By Kelli Anne Busey

Andi Dier. a transgender woman from New York was roughed up by the employees of The Irish Times Pub and Restaurant in Holbrooke as they bruskly removed her from the premise. Ms. Dier says they used transphobic slurs and tried to take her I phone after seeing she had recorded part of the incident.

They then stole her state-issued ID and had it not been for a stranger outraged over her treatment, she says the employees would have kept it.

Most New York transgender citizens are not protected against discrimination as the legislature has repeatedly failed to enact Genda

From Andi Dier’s Tumblr Post:

“The incident started from a lack of competence on the 14th of March; I was being harassed about how my state issued driver’s permit didn’t look like me. But it did, because it was, however I had makeup on. I patiently explained that I was transgender. In response, the staff condescendingly told me, “… that’s your fault.” Demanding that I come back with a new I.D. But this card was not expired. I haven’t had any surgery. And they wouldn’t have told a cisgender girl that her I.D. was invalid simply because she decided to sport makeup that night which she hadn’t previously photographed. This is a clear issue of discrimination.”

“When I tried asking for the manager the staff not only ignored my request; they violently slammed me against the wall when I was not attempting to advance any further into the building. One of them, bearing three times more weight, kept charging at me with untempered fury; breaking the door behind him. This was after I requested their names and upon noticing my phone in hand they attempted to steal and smash it.”

“They behaved unprofessionally, acting out of ignorance and rage. When my friends, who’d already been let in, tried calmly explaining the situation to the staff they replied by intentionally misgendering me as a “he.” After being corrected they used transphobic slurs like “he-she” and “it.” When I attempted to show my legitimate I.D. they swiftly stole it from my hand, refusing to give it back.”

“They stole a government issued permit. They chuckled as my night was ruined, along with my mascara. They publicly embarrassed me. They made me feel unsafe.

We (as trans people) are denied access to proper healthcare. We’ve been denied access to the bathroom. And now we can’t even get into the pub.” – Post by Andi Dier.

I contacted Andi on facebook she provided a further explanation of what happened:

I was assaulted in the vestibule of the pub. I did not make any advancement to further into the building. The security wouldn’t let me ask for a manger without violently pushing me out. They said their names were Rob and Matt, as stated in this audio clip:

“They took my driver’s permit after I took it out to show them that this was me. I did not get it back until the end of the night when someone else, who I did not know, had to aggressively fight for it. Without them I’d still be without it.”

I asked Andi if she considered the Pub’s employees action a physical assault and if she had contacted the police yet

“If pushing me, with unnecessary force when I’m at least half the weight of them, so untempered and disregard for physical consequences that they smashed me into the wall and broke the closing mechanism on the door is physical assault then yes. They kept pushing me out when I was asking for a manager, getting more and more aggressive. I was honestly starting to fear for my well-being but my ride was inside. They did not lighten up on the physical contact until I shouted, “This is physical assault. You’re physically assaulting me.” As if acknowledging their own wrong doing, their touch lightened up.”

“And no. I’ve not yet contacted the police. I’ve been afraid they wouldn’t do much, if anything, and was scared the situation would escalated further. Police do not have a good history of understand trans* folk.”



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