LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS — (Last update, Oct. 6, 2016. See below.) We knew this was coming. In fact, I was waiting for it — more ammunition to add to the growing pile of evidence confirming the absurdity of “bathroom bills.” This time, proponents will see how it can bite back and hit them in the pocketbook.
The cis woman, Cortney Bogorad, was kicked out of Detroit’s Fishbones restaurant after she attempted to use the women’s bathroom. A security guard pushed her up against the wall and accused her of being a “boy.”
Bogorad on WXYZ-TV: “As I came out of the stall, this gentleman – who was a security guard – came in the bathroom, and before I was even completely out of the bathroom he grabbed me by the arms and pushed me up against the wall, told me that boys aren’t allowed in this restroom. . . .”
Bogorad filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court last week.
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UPDATE-1 — Another incident, from August 2015 in Scranton, PA. From NEPA Scene:
“Gender identity and restroom usage has been a hot topic lately. As transgender awareness and visibility increases, it’s only reasonable to expect that people are looking out for us more than ever, and that means a false positive report was bound to happen sooner or later. Well, it finally did.
According to her Facebook post on August8, Julie Bidwell was out with her girlfriend, Heather Hess, enjoying a few drinks at Kildare’s Irish Pub in Scranton when things took a terrible turn:
“I was kicked out of my first bar tonight.. Well, allowed back in after i argued with the bouncer who kicked me out..
I went to the bathroom with a friend, then came out to a bouncer saying i had to leave bc men arent allowed in the girls bathroom.. I had to plead with him for almost a minute that i was a girl.. I was sober when it happened, n i am embarrassed enough to never go back.. The manager was even a bigger jerk than the bouncer… Kildare’s in Scranton, i will never come back, thank you.”
UPDATE-2 April 19, 2016. This time at a McDonalds in the UK. From Out:
“Ny Richardson, a 16-year-old from Yorkshire, England, claims she was kicked out of her local McDonald’s after using the bathroom because the staff thought her gender didn’t match the facilities she used.
“I ordered my food and left it with my girlfriend as I went to the toilet,” Ny told Yahoo News. “When I was in there, someone told me to get out and when I sat back down, the manager came over and told me that I needed to leave because I have been in the girls’ toilet.”
Richardson protested and the manager asked the teenager to show her ID to prove her gender. When she failed to produce any ID, the manager told her to leave and called the police. . . .”
Update-3, April 23, 2016. This video has been circulating on the internet since at least December, 2015. The video supposedly shows a lesbian woman in the woman’s bathroom being asked by a male(!) security officer to show so ID that proves her gender or leave. She didn’t have ID and was pushed out of the bathroom. However, the source and details of the supposed incident is lacking.
Im only including it here in hope that someone can step forward with information that either proves the incident occurred, or that the whole thing was faked: http://www.newnownext.com/aggressive-cop-forces-gay-woman-out-of-womens-bathroom-for-not-having-id/04/2016/
Until the video is proven legit, it is should be considered inconclusive and not proof that this incident occurred as it appears is the video.
Update-4, April 29, 2016. A self-appointed bathroom cop follows a “man” into the women’s bathroom in the Dallas, TX only to find out she’s a woman. From the Dallas Observer:
“. . . the man who, um, heroically barged into a women’s restroom at Baylor Medical Center in Frisco on Thursday to make sure that Jessica Rush, who manages a local health-food takeout place, was peeing in the proper place. She was, for the record, and her situation isn’t particularly complicated. Rush was born and identifies as female and has no plans to change that. “I look very much like a girl,” she says. “I’m not trying to transition, nothing like that.”
Update 5, May 14, 2016. A Kentucky cis woman was brutally beaten and hospitalized for looking too masculine. (I’m unable to confirm if this is bathroom usage related.) From Raw Story:
In a post on her Facebook timeline, Brittany Nicole Wallace wrote, “Today I was assaulted. A man assaulted me because I look like a ‘dike’! He told me that he would ‘beat me like the man I want to be.’ He said, ‘people like me make him hate the world.’
“He started by hitting me over and over in the face until he got me down,” Wallace wrote. “After I was down he began to kick me in the stomach, side, and face.”
Wallace said she tried to fight back, but her attacker was bigger and stronger. Bystanders, she said, never even lifted a finger to help.”
Update-6 May 16, 2016. A Danbury, Connecticut cis woman was harassed in a WalMart women’s bathroom by a stranger who thought she was transgender. From the NewsTime:
“Aimee Toms was washing her hands in the women’s bathroom at Walmart in Danbury Friday when a stranger approached her and said, “You’re disgusting!” and “You don’t belong here! . . .
Toms believes the incident happened because of the national controversy sparked by a law that was passed in North Carolina attempting to force transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender they were identified as at birth. . . .
“I’ve had people call me all sorts of names for having short hair. I’ve had people call me a boy, I’ve had people call me a dyke, I’ve had people call me gay.” Toms said. “I’m grateful that that woman only called me disgusting and didn’t physically attack me … I was a victim of transphobia today as a cisgender female because my hair is short.”
Update-7, May 18, 2016. Sally Kohn, a cis woman and CNN contributor talks about her own personal experience with bathroom harassment. Excerpts from Time:
I’m a lesbian and I fear public restroom confrontations. I hate using public restrooms. Airports and rest stops are my least favorite. I avoid locker rooms whenever possible. But really every restroom is bad. In fact, it happened to me just the other day in my fancy office building in New York City. I was at the sink, washing my hands, when a woman walked into the restroom and did a double take, first looking at me and then looking back at the sign on the still-open door of the restroom. Was she in the wrong place? Or, implicitly, was I? . . .
The first time I was actually yelled at in a bathroom, at least that I can remember, I was 19 years old. . . .
[In another incident] I remember going into some lavish hotel along the beach to use the bathroom and, while I was washing my hands at the sink, getting yelled at by a group of women. One of them, standing next to me at the sink, yelled to her friends in the stalls: “There’s a boy in here!” As the others came out, they loomed at me and shouted things like: “What are you doing in here?” and “You’re in the wrong place!”
Update-8, Sept. 18, 2016. Miami-Dade corrections officials three years ago sent a cis woman Fiordaliza Pichardo to a men’s jail where she was held in a common cell with 40 men who reportedly sexually harassed her after she “failed” a vagina inspection by jail officials. She has since filed a $5 million lawsuit.
Update-9, Sept. 20, 2016: A cis woman using the bathroom during a Carrie Underwood concert at LA’s Staples Center was confronted by a security officer who stood outside her stall door demanding proof of her gender. The woman, Mary Looper, said on Facebook that they literally tried to escort her out the restroom.
Update-10, October 6, 2016: Christian group starts boycott against a company using a “transgender” model. The model is actually cis woman Fatima Pinto. From Pink News:
“Puritanical Christian group One Million Moms has launched a boycott of H&M after mistaking a Muay Thai fighting champ for a transgender woman. . . . blogger JoeMyGod points out, the so-called “man dressed as a woman” in the ad is actually female Champion Muay Thai Boxer Fatima Pinto, who is not transgender.”
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t/h Mika Ellen Orzech, Lynn Conway
Cortney Bogorad:http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/woman-suing-fishbones-after-being-mistaken-for-a-man-and-kicked-out-of-the-womans-restroom
(Update-1) Julie Bidwell: http://nepascene.com/2015/08/living-your-truth-restroom-incident-kildares-brings-up-gender-identity-issues-scranton/
(Update-2) Ny Richardson http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2016/4/14/girl-kicked-out-mcdonalds-using-womens-bathroom-because-staff-thought-she-was
(Update-4) Self-appointed bathroom cop in Dallas: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/self-appointed-bathroom-cop-catches-dallas-woman-using-womens-restroom-8259104
Update-5) Brittany Nicole Wallace: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/05/kentucky-woman-says-man-beat-her-for-looking-too-masculine-as-people-stood-by-and-watched/#.VzeHprEcnM8.facebook
(Update-6) Aimee Toms: http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Woman-mistaken-for-transgender-harassed-in-7471666.php#photo-10075102
(Update-7) Sally Kohn: http://time.com/4322953/north-carolina-mississippi-bathroom-bills/
(Update-8) Fiordaliza Pichardo: https://lexiecannes.com/2016/09/18/arrested-cis-woman-fails-vagina-inspection-jailed-with-40-men-in-common-cell/
(Update-9) Mary Looper: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/09/lesbian-mistaken-man-questioned-restroom-l-concert-venue/
(Update-10) Fatima Pinto: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/10/05/one-million-moms-attack-transgender-hm-model-but-shes-just-a-butch-woman/?utm_source=MOBFB
(Updated) Sheriff says he’ll harm trans people in bathrooms: https://lexiecannes.com/2016/04/15/sheriff-tells-laughing-crowd-hell-violently-harm-trans-people-and-im-gonna-make-the-news/
(Updated) Bruce Springsteen stands up for trans people banned fro bathrooms in North Carolina: https://lexiecannes.com/2016/04/08/bruce-springsteen-stands-up-for-transgender-people-pulls-rug-out-from-under-north-carolinas-governor/
Watch LEXIE CANNES right now: http://www.amazon.com/Lexie-Cannes-CourtneyODonnell/dp/B00KEYH3LQ Or get the DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0963781332
Read Lexie Cannes in The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/courtney-odonnell/
Categories: Everything else, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Transphobia, exploitation, dehumanizing, violence, hate
LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS 
I hope she wins a bunch of money!! I find it interesting that the security guard did not wait till she came out of the restroom. How did he know for sure that no one else was in there? This just shows how people jump to conclusions without all the facts. Like this idea some people have that Trans people in the correct restroom pose a threat. Where is the evidence?? There is none!!!!
The only threat I pose is that of a mess if denied entrance to the bathroom.
More people have been assaulted in toilets by US senators than by transgender people. We need laws banning Senators from public restrooms, frankly.
I know of a genderqueer woman who was chastised by a girl for being in the Woman’s Restroom and this was in California where you have bathroom laws.
Let’s get rid of segregated bathrooms all together. Everyone needs to pee and everyone needs to poop. Don’t even think of bringing up potential rape. You’ve also got potential protectors.
The security guard needs to lose his job.
That is just good common sense Bjorn.
Yeah like rape happens anyway and nobody does anything about it I hate when people bring up that damn “rape scenario”
He needs to be identified and be included as a separate party in a civil suit…. I am assuming the DA would not press criminal charges…even though justified!
that security guard needs to be arrested for assault and battery…AND lose his job…
Security guard = High School DROPOUT!!!
Thats not even fair. You are generalizing a whole industry based on one person’s actions. Please think before you type these things. Someone made a mistake. With the ‘hype’ that is out there now regarding transgender persons, I would say someone over-reacted and used that to ‘alarm’ the security guard. Yes they (He) was wrong- but don’t add to the fuel of ignorance.
Sincerely- a Trans guy who gets harassed -frequently.
[ad hominem comment deleted]
This needs to be hyped. Because trans people shouldn’t be harassed for using the bathroom. I hope she wins tons of money. This proves they have no way to single people out without harassment of violating their rights.
I agree. Ben Carson isn’t a high-school dropout, and he’d probably do something like this…where as I know some high school dropouts who are pretty smart.
I’m a transgender man with a college degree. I’m also an Army veteran and a functional member of society. I worked as a licensed security guard for a year while I was doing a career change. I know many highly intelligent people who have worked security. Likewise, I knew a physicist who worked in retail for a few years because research funding was in short supply and jobs in physics were hard to come by.
My sister is a security guard, has a bachelors in criminal Justice and another in forensic accounting; she’s not using either because she couldn’t find a job in that field.
I worked security while in collage, don’t lump us all in the ass wipes group
*college
That’s a gross and incorrect generalization. I worked security for a few years when the bottom dropped out of my career field. I have an electronics degree and graduated with honors. I also have a “genius” level IQ. I quickly became a supervisor… This guy pulled the kind of bullshit I would not stand from my officers. What he did was completely wrong, and is quite lawsuit worthy. Still no reason to paint with such a wide brush. That’s like saying “All transgenders are hookers” which is patently false.
Based on a similar situation that happened in New York City to Khadijah Farmer back in 2007, that restaurant is probably going to have to cough up some cash.
I am so very sad this happened to this poor woman. I hope she makes a big enough mark for the haters to get the message. These extreme haters make us afraid, it is time we remind them there are consequences to their actions.
I really hope that this lady is up to the pressure this will cause, This suit can take years but she is one of the first people to have standing to get this into the court system —
I knew this would happen from day one ! As the old saying goes ” You Can Never tell a book by its cover” and it applies…
I agree with Lexie’s comments and the comments of others. Adding to those comments, I see this as a perfect example of why Sexual Orientation, Gender Expression and Gender Identity must all be included in amendments to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and the U.S. CIvil Rights Act of 1964. Clearly, the three cannot and must not be separated from each other in any amendments moving forward, and any attempt to exclude one or two from proposed amendments is unacceptable.
So, in order to “protect” the women from being exposed to men in the restroom, a MALE security guard goes into the bathroom, assaults a woman, and also insults her by telling her she doesn’t look feminine enough to be in the “right” bathroom? I think I know who the “confused” people in society are.
So, in order to “protect” the women from being exposed to men in the restroom, a MALE security guard goes into the bathroom, assaults a woman, and also insults her by telling her she doesn’t look feminine enough to be in the “right” bathroom? I think I know who the “confused” people in society are.
Where’s a like button when you need one!
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Omg… this is what we need… now , what we need is trans cops doing the bathroom checks on CIS so that they will repeal the stupid [deleted] laws!!!
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE!!
life , liberty , and the pursuit of happiness , hmmm, what country is that ?
Sorry buddy. “land of the free” hasn’t applied to the USA in DECADES. Didn’t you notice??!!!?
This country is turning into a police state!
Thank you so much for posting this illustrating the absurdity of such laws. As a translesbian, I’ve almost been arrested at the prompting of a heterosexual CIS woman who objected to me using the ladies room at a Holiday Inn pub where a lesbian crowd was having a regular gathering. Scary what can and too often does happen when we just try to be who we are.
I’m very sorry this happened, but the upside to this, is that it raises awareness to hopefully make others think twice, to not do it to someone else.
Has this been verified, though? I hate to sound negative, but there’s been too many times people have hopped on a story only to find out it was bogus
The story has a source link. You can find out yourself. BTW, I always use reputable sources and if they’re not, I try to confirm elsewhere.
I’m not meaning to be contradictory or antagonistic. I did follow the link as well as research other links, and in all of them there is her claim of what happened, but only her claim.
This actually hit a number of news outlets and was quite the topic for several days. I have been waiting for the charges or lawsuit.. Apparently it’s here. She certainly has a case.. IMO..
I am Tran’s truck driver we need bathroom law’s trust me people we need Trans restrooms or just being able to use the restroom in the gender on your I’d it’s that simple anyone who says different is ignorant and nieve also I have a 4 yr degree in bio science and was a hospital corps men in the Navy for anyone questioning my education level
Well, to be fair, if she wants people to think she’s a girl, she might want to actually look like one. Then on the opposite side, you’ve got people like that Canadian man who pretended to be a trans woman to get into a women’s shelter, then raped two of the residents.
I wish I knew of a simple answer…
How do you “look like a girl”? Because plenty of cis women have short hair and no interest in wearing pink skirts. You are saying that in order to not be assaulted, women must at all times look “feminine” so that bigots don’t attack them.
Tell me, Jeff, would YOU be happy to have to remember every day before going out of the house that you must dress in a way you don’t find comfortable so that you’re not attacked?
Hey, Clare.
I’m sorry you seem to have taken offense from my original statement, but that certainly wasn’t my intent. I was merely pointing out that we live in a society, and a society has norms. We, as a society, generally agree on what looks masculine and what looks feminine. If there weren’t a difference, this wouldn’t be an issue because we’d all be androgynous. For that matter, there would be no transgenders because there’d be nothing to transition to.
All I’m saying is that Ms. Bogorad’s appearance corresponds to what our society deems masculine. That’s not a criticism; it’s just a statement of fact. I see no reason to believe the security guard to be a bigot; he probably made an honest mistake, and given Ms. Bogorad’s appearance, it’s extremely easy to see why: she has a very masculine appearance, which by definition means she looks like a man.
Now, is there anything inherently wrong with her looking masculine? Of course not. It’s her look, and she’s entitled to it. If I want to look feminine, that’s my right as well. But if I go out in a feminine wig, makeup, and a cute little dress and heels, I shouldn’t get angry if someone thinks I’m a woman. We can all choose our actions, but we can’t choose the natural consequences of said actions.
I am a (mostly) straight female with the face of a 12 year old boy, and a mohawk… I love my look, and so does my boyfriend (who happens to have very long hair)… I’m not sure what your “defense” is, however. I have been mistaken for a boy from behind, and although I tend to wear dresses and the like in public, also have a pretty large tendency to steal my boyfriend’s clothes, or just simply wear my own baggy attire… So… what bathroom am I supposed to use? Should I be required to show my ID every time I have to pee? If someone gets the wrong idea, should that justify my being harassed or attacked in the most intimate public place available? Should I pee at home and no where else? I have so many questions and fears as a (mostly) heterosexual non transgender woman… but your solution would mean I have a completely separate room… or I have to show my ID… I wont even bring up the fact that most businesses couldn’t remodel for a 3rd bathroom… or the fact that little boys brought in by their mothers are quite consistently in bathrooms and peeking under stalls…
Thanks for the comments Michelle!
My solution is for women to look like women and men to look like men. If you’re a woman and think you look like a man (or vice versa), then I would suggest doing something to change that. I’m really not trying to be offensive, but I really don’t understand why this is a difficult concept.
so, if I don’t feel like putting make-up on today, it serves me right if someone mistakes me as a man and beats me up because I had to pee?
Of course not, and I’m not aware of anyone in this discussion claiming it’s okay to beat someone up.
Then maybe you’ll want to educate yourself a little more. I find educating oneself on a subject they know little more about tends to avoid a lot of ignorance.
Hey, Martie. Were you responding to me? Sorry, the interface to this discussion is pretty bad.
Thanks!
I understand what you are saying but assaulted is against the law. Being assaulted for ones appearance should never be a “consequence”. Thats like saying it is reasonable to expect to be assaulted for being too tall, too skinny, too short, too fat, etc. Not every female has feminine features & they should not have to wear makeup or dresses to appear in a way that would keep them from being assaulted. How about people stop being so hateful & scared of ridiculous crap & not assault people just because you don’t like what they look like.
I don’t understand what he’s saying–because what he’s saying makes no sense.
We don’t have “feminine” and “masculine” sexes. We have female and male (and intersex, and transitioning, etc etc). Female and feminine are not the same thing. Neither are male and masculine. You have to act and look feminine to be considered feminine. Fair enough. But you don’t have to act or look feminine to be considered female. Female’s a state of being, not a way of acting. Ditto male vs. masculine.
Furthermore, cultural norms for femininity and masculinity change dramatically over time–and from culture to culture, and from subculture to subculture. The idea that either sex would again be required under law to “present” in certain ways (like when women were taken to jail for wearing bloomers) is insane.
So’s the idea that a woman with broad shoulders must wear makeup, or wear their hair long, or their shirt cut low, to be acceptable as female. Or that a slight, willowy man should…heck, I don’t know what he can do, short of wandering around shirtless, to make it clear to idiots that he’s male, not masculine and female.
People have a right to be respected in their own bodies, without catering to someone else’s decoration preferences and “-inities.” It really is that simple.
I think you’re reading *way* too much into this, jfsabl. All I said is that if someone looks like the opposite gender, that person shouldn’t get mad when people mistake him or her for that gender.
Basically, you are trying to justify mistakes of the ignorant. And if they learned this ignorance because that’s the way it always USED to be, then those people need to wake up. Please stop trying to justify ignorance. It’s 2016 and anyone still operating and thinking in the Dark Ages has been living under a rock and should seriously pick up a book and get caught up.
I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one, starsastuff. I personally think someone who believes that men and women don’t look different is a lot more ignorant than someone who believes they do.
What Clare said.
My wife didn’t meet the expectations of males in our high school as far as their view of female. But – to me – she was a caring, warm and wonderful person who helped me through a tough time in my life, who was willing to marry me and carry two babies for us, and who stood by my side faithfully till cancer decided to take her. I can’t imagine how my life would have been if I’d listened to those idiots in high school who asked me why I would want to date such an ugly bitch – who would laugh at her, call her a dog, and bark when she walked by.
My condolences, Billie. I can’t imagine losing my wife to cancer. That has to have been incredibly hard.
That being said, please see my response to Clare. I suspect this is a *much* different situation than your wife’s.
I’m sorry but people should be able to look however they do without worring about being assaulted or judged. Society should be more civilized than that. Who even decided that it is feminine to have long hair, wear makeup, wear dresses, etc & that it is masculine to have short hair, not wear dresses, not wear makeup, etc. That is a ridiculous notion. Kilts are worn by men in some countries & a mom of small childrenwith no time gor herself should be able to have short hair, not wear makeup, & be able to throw on a pair of jeans to run her errands without the fear that she will be assaulted or thrown out of a ladies room as a “consequence” of not looking what some people think is feminine. Why are people so threatened by differences in others? Why do people hate on things they don’t understand? Why are SO CALLED Christians so against transgendered people in the 1st place?There is nothing in the bible about transgender people. There are however, many scriptures about being kind to one another & not judging others. Also, it is pretty ironic that all these men don’t want men in the women’s room but the are going in women’s rooms to grab people they think are men that are actually women. Not that it matters but I am a married female in my 50’s, I’m a mom, grandma, & great grandma, i have worn makeup since I was a young teen, I prefer to have long hair, when I worked, I enjoyed dressing up but now I do wear jeans & sneakers most every day as wearing dresses & high heals to the dog park would be ridiculous. I don’t know if I even know any transgender people because that doesn’t matter to me. I just think that people shouldn’t be hated on & assaulted for being “different”. What I do have a problem with is people that hurt other people & animals that aren’t hurting anyone.
rocks mommy, I’m not sure if you’re responding to me, but if so, I think you’ve misunderstood my point. Assault is never justified.
I dont get it. If she was trans then she would be attempting to use the mens room not the ladies.
If she was a trans man using the ladies toilets, then she was actually following these bizarre laws and should have been left alone.
I only have one question…..why do these girls fail to have ID on them. That would put sn end to the harassment ASAP
I don’t bring my purse into the bathroom with me if I’m at a restaurant…you leave it at your table, UNLESS you are alone. Guys leave their wallets in their coats all the time…it’s the same thing….and even more for women who wear dresses or skirts that don’t have pockets for wallets. Here’s a better question for you…Why doesn’t the guy just BELIEVE THEM when they tell him they are female?
I don’t leave my wallet anywhere but my back pocket. And I would never leave my purse at the table going to the bathroom. And I don’t think you would either.
Ffs leave us alone!!!!
YOU WILL LOVE FEMINISM AND LIKE IT! Don’t you care about WOMANZ RIGHTZ!
Please correct me if I am wrong. Aren’t these bathroom laws relegated to state property and public schools? Not to wal mart and restaurants. If so then these transfobic morons are even more ignorant then they could possibly imagine.
I used to get kicked out of the girl’s restroom when I was only 15. I guess having braces made me look too manly. It’s not like I had a flat chest though.
It’s cuz they were perverts and had a fetish with girls in Braces..
People that do violence to these innocent people are just punks to me, sorry. Get a life!
But they are stopping rape culture! You don’t support rape do you?
I love it. Beat more women up. Don’t let a few Stupid CIS women stop you from the goal of feminism! Keep those white knights and cops PROTECTing YOU!. You don’t want more VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN DO YOU? If you are against rape, then you have to allow a few women to get hurt. A few casualties are necessary for the good of the group!