(LifeSiteNews) — The transgender bathroom wars have erupted once again—but this time, in the most unlikely place.
Wesley Han, a 30-year-old actor who identifies as “non-binary” and uses “they/them” pronouns, was evicted from the women’s bathroom of a New York City hotel. Han, who is male, was wearing female clothes. He is suing.
Han filed a state civil rights lawsuit after a security guard entered the bathroom of NYC’s Soho Hotel, banged on the stall he was in, and ordered him to get out of the women’s bathroom. “When Wesley is dressed in more traditionally feminine attire, they generally prefer to use the women’s restroom,” Han’s lawsuit reads. “Based on Wesley’s lived experience, doing so is significantly less likely to provoke harassment and is less likely to be off-putting to other restroom users.”
According to the complaint, Han was in the stall when he heard a loud voice saying: “Excuse me, ladies, have you seen a man enter?” Han said: “I could feel the blood draining from my face instantly because I knew he could only be talking about me, but on the other hand, there was some small absurd part of me that didn’t believe this could be happening.”
Han was escorted by the security guard to the men’s room; Han’s lawsuit claims he was treated as if he were a “dangerous, predatory, or sexually deviant simply for using the restroom that corresponded with their [sic] gender expression and presentation that evening.” The result of this is that Han felt “pressured and obligated” to use the men’s restroom, which was, for him, a “deeply humiliating and distressing ordeal.”
To translate: Han is male but identifies as non-binary—that is, neither male nor female—and thus he cross-dresses and chooses whichever bathroom matches his clothes that day. The security guard, who was naturally upset that a man had entered the women’s bathroom, is apparently bigoted for doing what he felt was his job.
It is worth mentioning that many blue-collar folks have not yet been indoctrinated into the complex maze of fluid identities recently invented by the LGBT movement. It may simply never have crossed the guard’s mind that there are people who believe they are neither men nor women and who match the bathroom they use to their clothes. Perhaps he is over 30 and remembers when the term “non-binary” wasn’t a thing.
New York law bans any discrimination based on “gender identity” or “gender expression,” and so Han’s case appears to be more solid than his identity.
Meanwhile, Han also used the lawsuit to explain his career, in which he plays men, women and queer characters. And fair enough—it seems likely that the security guard was never exposed to his role in the Starz TV show Power Book II: Ghost, in which he plays “Pinky,” a queer, gender-nonconforming private investigator which, the lawsuit reads, reflected Han’s “lived experience as a non-binary person.”
According to the Independent: “Han is seeking compensatory damages for humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, and mental anguish, as well as punitive damages, to be determined by a jury.” They really don’t make men the way they used to.
Meanwhile, six trans-identifying Idahoans have also launched a lawsuit calling on a federal judge to declare the state’s new law restricting female facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms, or changing rooms to females only “unconstitutional.” The law, which goes into effect in July, carries stiff penalties for deliberate violations, including misdemeanor charges and a year in prison or, for a second offence, a felony charge with up to five years in jail. Idaho is one of 19 states with such laws on the books.
The six plaintiffs claim the law will result in emotional harm, the worsening of their gender dysphoria, and possibly physical afflictions brought on by avoiding bathroom use.
