The debate around gender is at the forefront these days in many places. Another incident has taken place which has people taking sides once again.
Keep reading to learn more.
Gerika Mudra from Owatonna, a city that is an hour south of Minneapolis is opening about an experience she had at a restaurant earlier this year when a friend wanted to go to the restroom.
When the teenager entered the restroom, she says that a worker at the restaurant followed her in, ordering her to get out. The worker allegedly said, “This is a women’s restroom. The man needs to get out of here.”
The 18-year-old who is not a transgender person came out of the stall in the bathroom and told the worker that they were a woman. She told her, “I am a lady.”
The worker kept insisting for her to get out, allegedly saying, “You have to get out now.”
In order to stop the allegations from the restaurant worker, the high schooler who identifies as a lesbian, reluctantly unzipped her hoodie to prove that she was a woman by revealing she had breasts.
Gender Justice, which is a Minnesota-based gender equality organization has agreed to take the case on.
They have released a statement which reads, “No one should be harassed in a public bathroom just for being themselves. High schooler Gerika Mudra was out to dinner with a friend, just a normal evening. Until she got up to use the bathroom.
“A server followed her into the women’s restroom, pounded on the stall door, and demanded she prove she belonged there. Why? Because Gerika didn’t fit someone else’s idea of what a girl ‘should’ look like,” it continued.
“Scared, trapped, and humiliated, Gerika was forced to unzip her hoodie to show she had breasts—just to make it stop. This wasn’t just wrong, it was illegal. And it’s part of a larger, dangerous trend,” they said.
Mudra has shared the incident has left her shaken and has made her feel uncomfortable with using a restroom anywhere other than home.
“She made me feel very uncomfortable,” the teenager said, in an interview. “After that, I just don’t like going in public bathrooms. I just hold it in. … I want to be able to use the bathroom in peace,” she added.
Gender Justice held a press conference in which senior attorney at the firm Sara Jane Baldwin made a statement saying, “Businesses have a legal obligation not to just have anti-discrimination policies on paper, but to train staff and ensure that those policies are followed in real time.”
“When that doesn’t happen, the business is liable for the harm caused,” she added.
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