Scotland: Trans woman threatened with ban from shopping centre for using ladies’ toilets
A transgender woman has claimed she was threatened with being banned from a shopping centre, after someone complained about her using the ladies’ toilets.
Hannah Leith said she was stopped by a security guard when she tried to go into the toilets at the Paisley Centre, Scotland.
She said he called her “mate”, and told her a complaint had been made, and that she would be banned from the centre unless she used the male or disabled toilets in future, reports the Paisley Daily Express.
She said: “At about noon, while waiting to pick up a prescription, I spent 10 minutes window shopping and chatting with staff I know from other shops.
“I visited the ladies as I left and I was approached by a security guard and informed a complaint had been made that I was using the ladies’ toilets.
“He proceeded to inform me that I was only to use either the men’s or disabled toilets unless I was post-operative.
“I informed him that I had the legal right to use appropriate toilets, and he responded by saying if I used them, I would be banned from the centre.”
She went on to say: “It was not made clear whether a staff member or a member of the public had made this complaint… I have lived full-time as a woman since last August and this disgusts me.”
Hannah said she had used the toilets countless times before, and works in Marks and Spencer on nearby Paisley High Street.
After printing out her legal rights from the library, Ms Leith said she went back to speak to the manager of the centre, but that nobody was available.
She then attempted to enter the ladies’ toilets but was stopped again by another guard, and attempted to reason with the first security guard she spoke to.
“This was useless as he said words to the effect that I was causing problems for everyone and that the majority was more important than just me.
“When I said it had never caused a problem before, and no-one has either noticed or cared I was trans, he replied that they noticed – implying that I do not pass as a woman, which I don’t believe is correct.”
The Equality Act 2010 bars discrimination based on gender reassignment, sex and sexual orientation.
Stonewall and the Scottish Transgender Alliance both emphasised that “refusal to allow use of sanitary facilities appropriate to the gender in which the person is living”, is in breach of the Act.
