Police in the District of Columbia have
charged a security guard with simple assault over an incident
involving a transgender woman.
Ebony Belcher, 32, told NBC
Washington that the female security officer told her to get out
of the women's restroom located inside a Giant grocery store.
“She opened the door and came in and
started calling me derogatory names,” Belcher told the station.
Belcher said that the guard told her,
“You guys cannot keep coming in here and using our women's
restroom. They did not pass the law yet.”
“She grabbed me and pushed me out of
the store. Little did she know, I have Parkinson's Disease and I
struggle with walking. I almost tripped and fell and bust my head
when she shoved me out the door,” she added.
After reporting the incident, which she
described as “deeply humiliating,” police arrested the guard.
Police are investing the incident as a suspected hate crime.