sue_me_pleasePortland bartender who shoved transgender woman in bathroom dispute guilty of hate crime, jury rules
I’m curious what the legality of this really is.
What rights do businesses have to dictate which restrooms their patrons use?
Probably none. The whole bathroom debate has been legally dubious from the outset.
That’s weird. They can refuse people using their bathrooms if they don’t pay, I figured denying them for other reasons was also on the table.
How could it be? Are they checking birth certificates?
I mean, they shouldn’t even have to check birth certificates.
What’s stopping a business from saying you can’t use their restrooms just because they feel like it?
Well potentially nothing? Until someone says “why?” and then it becomes gender discrimination
Does a business even have to answer that question?
If they get sued. Or are under public pressure to not be a bunch of assholes. Sure.
Might be part of the requirement for running a business is you have to have a restroom available. When’s the last time you were in a restaurant without a bathroom? I’m sure they all don’t just supply one because it’d be weird to not, instead it’s probably part of the license req.
In the general case, nothing. Not too long ago I was in a Ben & Jerry’s that had closed its bathroom down, for example.
The bartender in question here committed battery; that’s the underlying crime, not denying bathroom access. The hate crime rider on top is, by definition, an enhanced penalty for thinking illegal thoughts while committing some other crime.