Khadijah Farmer, the lesbian who alleged that the New York City eatery Caliente Cab Co. ejected her from the women’s restroom last year because of her masculine appearance, settled her lawsuit against the establishment on May 13.
As part of the settlement, filed in the New York State Supreme Court in October, Caliente has agreed to update its corporate nondiscrimination policy and institute personnel training; amend a section of the employee handbook dealing with bathroom facilities; adopt a gender-neutral dress code for employees; and pay $35,000 in damages to Farmer.
Farmer alleged that last year on June 24, the day of the annual LGBT Pride Parade in New York City, a male bouncer at Caliente Cab Co. in the West Village ejected her from the women’s restroom because he insisted she looked like a man. She said he pounded on her stall door and then refused to examine the identification she offered to prove she is a woman. She, her girlfriend and the rest of their party were thrown out of the restaurant, she alleged.
Caliente Cab Company denies the facts of Farmer’s complaint.
Farmer, a biological woman who identifies as female, has a masculine appearance.
“I’m very happy that the restaurant has taken appropriate steps to ensure that all patrons, regardless of how masculine or feminine they appear, are treated with dignity and respect,” Farmer said in a statement released by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented her. “People come in all shapes and sizes, and they shouldn’t be discriminated against because they don’t match someone’s expectations of how masculine or feminine they should be.”
