Khadijah Farmer, right, pictured at a press conference July 2007 outside Cliente Cab Company in the West Village. With her is Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s executive director Michael Silverman.
For the fifth year, advocates marched across Brooklyn Bridge for Marriage Equality. Yet this event was different.
Majority Leader Dean Skelos attended Log Cabin’s fall fundraiser, where he backed the first openly gay Senate hopeful, John Chromczak.
advertisement
advertisement
|
Friday, May 09, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — A popular Greenwich Village restaurant has settled a lawsuit with a lesbian who said a bouncer chased her out of the women’s bathroom and forced her to leave because she looked masculine.
The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced the settlement Tuesday on behalf of Khadijah Farmer.
The Caliente Cab Company, while denying the allegations, has agreed to pay $35,000. Caliente also will add gender identity to its non-discrimination policy; amend its employee handbook with a section on customer restroom use; adopt a gender-neutral employee dress code; and train workers on the new policies.
Farmer said the incident occurred last June 24, after she attended New York City’s annual Gay Pride march. Farmer said the she explained to the bouncer that she was a woman and offered to show identification. But the bouncer still kicked her out because he thought she was a man using the women’s restroom.
At a press conference last July, Famer recounted her experience at the restaurant. She said that after attending the Pride march Sunday, June 24, she had dinner with friends at the Caliente Cab Company, a Mexican restaurant on Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village. Farmer said that she excused herself to go to the bathroom, and while in a stall, a male bouncer employed by Caliente Cab entered the women’s restroom and banged on her stall door.
“He said he was told there was a guy in the woman’s restroom,” Farmer recalled. “It was ironic, because it turned out the only guy in the bathroom was him.”
Farmer said that she offered to show the bouncer, whom she described as “hostile and aggressive,” identification proving that she was in the correct bathroom, but that he said, “That is neither here nor there.
“The bouncer told me to hurry up and pay the tab, and then escorted my friends, girlfriend, and me out of the restaurant,” Farmer said. “I asked to speak to the manager and was told the bouncer was the manager. I asked for his name, and he wouldn’t give it.”
“I shouldn’t be harassed when I’m just trying to do something everyone in the world does,” Farmer told the Blade last summer. “I would like Caliente Cab to adopt policies to prohibit discrimination, and re-train the staff. Education kills ignorance.”
“The Caliente Cab Company has been a prominent member of the West Village for many years,” the company said in a recent statement. “An enlightened attitude and progressive thinking is woven into Caliente’s culture and in its efforts to promote the social welfare of all members of the community.”
“Caliente, while disputing the portrayal of the events as reported by the plaintiff, is happy the matter is resolved amicably without engaging in protracted litigation,” the company said. “We believe the changes implemented will serve all the members of the community well in the years to come.”
Additional reporting by Brett Krutzsch.
|
