Transgender woman barred from using washroom at Medicine Hat bar

CTV Calgary: Medicine Hat bouncer tells his story A Medicine Hat bouncer says he is upset at being called a 'trans-phobe' while working at a local bar which was the centre of a transgender controversy.

A bar in Medicine Hat, Alta., is facing intense scrutiny after an employee told a young transgender woman she couldn’t use the women’s washroom and a controversial sign was later posted telling patrons to “use the bathroom of your birth gender.”

The bar’s management has said it is “saddened” by the situation but has not directly apologized to Calgary resident River Rising, 21, who said she’s never experienced any backlash for who she is until now.

“(I’m) just shocked that kind of behaviour still exists in the world,” Rising told CTV Calgary.

The incident happened a few weeks ago at the Corona Tavern in Medicine Hat. Rising says she was at the bar when a male employee approached her and began asking personal questions about her transition.

“Had I had surgery yet, how long had I been on hormones -- things that really were just none of his business. So he told me not to use the women’s washroom anymore,” she said.

Rising said she avoided using the washroom for the rest of the night.

In the days following the incident, Rising said she was later alerted to a social media post that showed a sign posted outside the bar’s washrooms that read, “You must use the bathroom of your birth gender.”

She said she was upset by the sign, particularly in light of the recent passage of Bill 7, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender expression and gender identity under the Alberta Human Rights Act.

“It’s fine, be ignorant. But you have to obey the law still like the rest of us,” she said.

The bar’s management refused to speak to CTV Calgary on camera but instead released a statement saying that they have had “numerous” complaints of men entering the women’s washroom since Bill 7 received royal assent last December.

“Since the passing of Bill 7, we have had numerous complaints about males going into the women’s washroom. The clientele that we serve are often under the influence of alcohol and some young men who are not trangendered [sic] have been claiming to be, to enter the women’s washroom. This has caused some young female patrons to feel unsafe and threatened,” the bar managers wrote in a Facebook statement.

“We have no bias against those who are LGBTQ and in fact have always been proud to serve this population within our business, even supporting the PRIDE festival in past years. We are saddened by this situation and had no intention of making any human feel unsafe.”

The bar's management added that one washroom was recently made gender neutral to address the issue.

The bar has since faced plenty of scrutiny on its Facebook page. More than 350 users have given the Corona Tavern a one-star rating, and dozens of people have left comments attacking the bar’s actions.

“Shame on the manager for their disgusting behaviour related to the sign they've placed by the bathrooms,” wrote Facebook user Laurie Tokarchuk.

Facebook user Bryan Leitch wrote: “No thanks. I'd rather go to a bar that is more inclusive of everybody. Putting a sign like this up is not a 'small mistake', then putting up a sign printed on a home computer and saying it's resolved is not adequate.”

Rising said she still hopes to get an apology for what transpired and said she hopes it doesn’t happen again.

“I guess I just hope that if anything can happen from this it’s that someone doesn’t have to go through the same circumstance,” she said.

With a report from CTV Lethbridge’s Kaella Carr