Guests typically expect a warm and respectful welcome at a high-end hotel, but that was not the experience for Ansley Baker and Liz Victor during their recent stay at The Liberty Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The couple, who are both cisgender women, were attending a weekend event at the hotel when an unexpected and disturbing incident occurred.
According to the women, everything was going smoothly until a visit to the restroom took a shocking turn. While Victor was inside a stall and Baker waited by the sink, a security guard entered the women’s restroom, banged on the stall door, and accused them of being in the wrong bathroom. The guard allegedly suspected the women of being transgender and refused to believe otherwise.
The situation escalated as the women were escorted from the restroom, during which bystanders hurled insults, misgendered them, and called them derogatory names such as “he” and “creeps.” Once outside the bathroom, the security guard ordered the two women to prove their gender by showing him their identification. The confrontation quickly grew more heated, ultimately resulting in Baker and Victor being removed from the Boston hotel.
Allegedly, someone reported the couple for entering a restroom stall together, a claim both women firmly denied. There were also unconfirmed reports that one of them physically touched a security guard, which the hotel cited as part of the reason for their removal. Following the incident, The Liberty Hotel suspended the security guard involved, stating that the hotel welcomes and supports the LGBTQ+ community. However, the Massachusetts couple noted that no public apology has been issued regarding the false accusations made against them.
Many people have expressed support for Baker and Victor, with numerous Reddit users criticizing the security guard’s actions as unreasonable and excessive. “Is that even legal? Well, it’s dehumanizing whether it’s legal or not,” one user commented.
Others found it ironic that policies meant to ensure only “real” women can enter women’s restrooms may actually make women feel uncomfortable and unsafe. “So, this policy to ‘keep men from entering the women’s restroom’ ended up allowing the only man in the story to… enter the women’s restroom,” one user joked.
Additionally, some users voiced frustration with the current state of conservative politics, calling out what they see as excessive sensitivity. “The government has too much overreach, but they should also be able to look at my genitals at a moment’s notice,” another Redditor joked.
