Store Bans Transgender After Customers Complain
A transgender woman has been banned from an Idaho grocery store after she tried to use the women's restroom and patrons complained that her presence was making them feel "very uncomfortable."
The grocery store reportedly has a right to refuse service to anyone, and has cited the transgender woman for a misdemeanor in trespassing and banned her from visiting the store for a full year.
Alberto Robledo of Lewiston, Idaho, who was born a male but now identifies as a female named Ally, reportedly visited the women's restroom at a Rosauers grocery store in Lewiston on April 8, according to The Associated Press.
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Patrons of the store reportedly complaining because Robledo, 25, was "urinating while standing up" in the women's restroom, Lewiston Police Captain Roger Lanier told Reuters.
"The store security officer said he had been dealing with a problem over a couple days with the person going into the women's restroom and urinating while standing up," Lanier told Reuters, adding that the act was making other female patrons "very uncomfortable."
"The store employees didn't want any further problems, and they chose to exercise their right to trespass this individual from the business," Lanier added to local news station KLEW-TV.
"Anyone who owns or controls their property can make that decision," Lanier said.
Robledo believes that she's being discriminated against and additionally told KBOI-TV that she feels more safe using the women's restroom.
"When I did use the male [restroom] there would be people that would harass me in school," Robledo told the local news station. "I would feel really embarrassed and there were times when I found myself in a lot of dangerous situations."
"I'm a female trapped in a man's body. It's natural for me to go to the ladies' room. Getting the no trespassing order for a public restroom was really painful," Robledo added to Reuters.
Recently in a similar case, a 6-year-old transgender girl named Coy Mathis was barred from using the female restroom at her school in Colorado.
The Mathis family has filed a discrimination complaint with the school district.
