D.C. police have charged a security guard at a Giant grocery store with simple assault after a transgender woman said the guard forced her out of the women's restroom.The security guard has been charged with assault.
Ebony Belcher, 32, said she went to the Giant in northeast D.C. with a friend to pick up a delivery from the Western Union. While at the Giant, she asked a store employee to point her to the restroom and passed a female security officer standing in the hallway. The officer came into the restroom and told her to get out, according to Belcher. "She opened the door and came in and started calling me derogatory names," Belcher said. She said the officer put her hand on her shoulder and arm, grabbed her and pushed her out of the store.
Belcher said the guard told her, "You guys cannot keep coming in here and using our women's restroom. They did not pass the law yet." She said she called police and reported the incident after she left the store. According to a police report, officers arrested the guard at the Giant after the confrontation.
Washington DC has a trans-inclusive anti-discrimination statute. And even if it didn't, the guard created a hostile response where none was warranted. Assuming that the story described above is accurate. I'm sure we will find out if it's not.