The Liberty Hotel, a luxury property in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, has publicly apologized for ejecting a lesbian couple after a security guard mistook one of the women for a man and objected to her presence in the women’s restroom.
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) announced that the hotel agreed to settle a discrimination complaint stemming from the incident. Under the settlement, the Liberty must make a $10,000 charitable donation to an LGBTQ organization, update its nondiscrimination policies and management training, post a nondiscrimination statement in its lobby, and formally apologize to Ansley Baker and her girlfriend, Liz Victor, reports GO Magazine.
In May, Baker and Victor were attending a Kentucky Derby-themed event at the hotel when they stepped into the restroom. While they were inside, a security guard entered the women’s room, banged on stall doors, and shouted, “No men are allowed.”
Baker, who has a more masculine gender presentation, said the guard accused her of being “a man in the women’s bathroom” and demanded she show identification to prove she was a woman.
In a Google review of the hotel — which went viral before she deleted it — Victor described the couple’s humiliating treatment by security, noting they were ejected from the event even after Baker verified she was a woman.
The Liberty Hotel initially claimed that “several women” complained about “two adults sharing a bathroom stall,” and alleged that one of the women had “put a hand on our security team” — accusations Baker and Victor deny. The hotel later suspended the security guard, who is no longer employed there, but never retracted its original statement.
According to the MCAD, the women were “stereotyped, harassed, and removed” from the hotel, and later retaliated against when the Liberty issued a statement implying they had engaged in misconduct.
“This outrageous incident at the Liberty Hotel left these two women emotionally shaken, humiliated, and deeply distressed,” MCAD Chairwoman Sunila Thomas George said in a statement. “They were denied services, subjected to demeaning treatment in front of other patrons of the hotel, and falsely accused of actions they did not commit, which is not only degrading, but unjust according to Massachusetts civil rights law.”
In a statement on Monday, Liberty Hotel General Manager Mark Fischer apologized directly to the couple, saying: “We deeply regret that our initial statement may have created unintended impressions about the actions of Ansley and Liz. That was not our intent.”
Fischer added that the hotel is “committed to learn from this and do everything we can so that nothing like it ever happens again.”
Despite the settlement, Baker and Victor plan to file a civil lawsuit against the hotel. Their attorney, Lenny Kesten, told GO they intend to hold the Liberty accountable for what he called a “fake statement.”
“They have lied repeatedly,” Kesten said. “The hotel attacked Ansley and Liz for malicious reasons to cover up the guard’s wrongdoing. They attacked them with a statement that had to be signed off by executives, and we will put those names out once we get them as to who did this.”
The couple told Boston CBS affiliate WBZ-TV they are pursuing the lawsuit to help ensure a similar incident won’t happen to others in the future.
“I think it does mean that much to both of us, it means that much to a lot of other people out there,” Baker told the station, noting that they feel the hotel has failed to hold anyone responsible for publicizing the statement that accused them of wrongdoing.
Added Victor, “We’re in the position now to hold these folks accountable and then hopefully make a difference moving forward.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has begun enforcing a new rule requiring airlines to ignore any "X" gender markers on passports and instead enter either "M" or "F" for all passengers.
Announced in a July 7 bulletin, CBP said the rule stems from an earlier executive order by former President Donald Trump aimed at eliminating recognition of transgender identities. The directive took effect on July 14, with airlines given 90 days to comply before full enforcement.
Now in effect, the rule has sparked widespread concern over how it will be implemented in practice.
An unruly airline passenger ranting about anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theories was arrested after flight crew diverted the plane to Chicago out of concern for the safety of others onboard.
The man was aboard a Sun Country flight that left Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at 7:13 a.m. on October 3. According to passenger Seth Evans, a Minnesota native who now lives in New York, the man acted erratically throughout the flight.
Evans told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the man repeatedly stood up and screamed in between playing rounds of Candy Crush on his phone.
California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a gay lawmaker long targeted by the right for his progressive record on LGBTQ rights and criminal justice reform, is reportedly planning to run for U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) congressional seat in 2026, according to The San Francisco Standard.
At 85, Pelosi -- a two-time Speaker of the U.S. House -- has largely receded from the political spotlight, creating an opening for challengers in her heavily Democratic district. She has not yet said whether she plans to seek another term.
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