Woman says security guard kicked her out of women’s restroom, asked her to ‘prove her gender’

BOSTON (WBZ) – A woman said hotel security kicked her out of a woman’s restroom and asked her to “prove her gender” by providing an ID.

Ansley Baker said the incident happened Saturday afternoon at the high-end Liberty Hotel in Boston.

Baker and her girlfriend Liz Victor were inside a woman’s restroom at the hotel when they said a male security guard came in and started banging on the stall doors.

“One of the security guards was there telling me to get out of the bathroom, telling me I am a man in the women’s bathroom. I told him I was a woman,” Baker said.

Baker was born a woman, is a woman, and identifies as one. Regardless, she said as she was escorted out of the restroom, offensive comments were hurled at her from other women waiting in line.

“Someone said, ‘Get him out of here,’ referring to me. ‘He’s a creep,’ also referring to me,” Baker recalled.

Baker described the incident as “humiliating” and said she was pulled out of the restroom before she could finish tying her shorts.

“It’s just humiliating overall,” she said. “Like I said, I didn’t have my shorts tied even, and then just in front of everyone.”

From there, Baker and Victor said the security guard asked for their IDs to check their gender.

After presenting their IDs, the couple said things grew heated before ultimately being told to leave.

However, officials with the Liberty Hotel said their security initially went into the bathroom after several women told them that two adults were sharing a stall.

The hotel also said the couple was kicked out after one of them put their hands on a security guard.

The women vehemently deny those claims and said they were never in a stall together.

“If that’s what he thought the issue was [sharing a stall], once he opened the stall door, obviously there was only one person in there, so it should’ve been kinda cased closed,” Victor said.

LGBTQ advocates like Nina Selvaggio with the Greater Boston PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) said this couple’s story is unfortunately nothing new.

“Being harassed in public restrooms is a tale as old as time,” Selvaggio said.

She believes this case is the result of ramped-up rhetoric in the state, with Massachusetts hate crimes hitting a 20-year high.

“I do think the surge in national anti-trans rhetoric is contributing to an increased policing of women’s bodies and their expressions of gender,” Selvaggio said.

A Liberty Hotel representative said they tried to reach the couple on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the hotel is continuing its own investigation.

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