May 13, 2008 11:35 am US/Eastern
Greenwich Restaurant Settles In Gender Mixup Case
Pays $35,000 To Customer, Denies Gender Discrimination Allegations
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Civil rights lawyers said a popular Greenwich Village restaurant has settled a lawsuit with a lesbian who said a bouncer chased her out of the women's bathroom and forced her to leave because she looked masculine.
"Obviously, I'm not the most feminine woman in the world, nor should I have to be," Khadijah Farmer tells CBS 2.
The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced the settlement Tuesday on behalf of Khadijah Farmer, who sued the restaurant for alleged gender discrimination.
The charge stemmed from an an incident on June 24, the night of the Gay Pride March. Farmer, a lesbian, said that she along with her partner and a friend went to the Caliente Cab Company Mexican restaurant, which she said was displaying a gay rights flag.
After being seated, Farmer got up to go to the women's restroom. Once in a stall, she said a male bouncer pounded on the stall door saying there was a complaint that a man was in the women's bathroom.
"And I responded to him that I was a woman and I was where I was supposed to be," she says.
Farmer said she offered her identification to the bouncer, but he wouldn't look at it, demanding that she and her friends pay and leave.
"Their response is that Khadijah could have a free meal which is equivalent to flipping us the bird," said Farmer's attorner Michael Silverman.
In a statement to CBS 2HD, the restaurant said, "On July 16 we met in good faith. The complainant's representatives would not discuss any issues, nor consider the overwhelming evidence contradicting complainant's allegations, without a prior promise of serious monetary compensation to the complainant."
Farmer said people often mistake her for a man, and that nine times out of ten they apologize after she corrects them.
An attorney for Caliente Cab Company did not immediately return a call for comment.
Farmer's lawyers say the company, while denying the allegations, has agreed to pay $35,000.
They also say Caliente will add gender identity to its non-discrimination policy; amend its employee handbook with a section on customer restroom use; adopt a gender-neutral employee dress code; and train workers on the new policies.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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