A transgender woman has filed a lawsuit against hotel giant Hilton, alleging that she was assaulted by a security guard at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre while she was a registered guest.
According to the complaint, filed in the 192nd Civil District Court in Dallas County, Kimberly Barnett, an Afro-Latina transgender woman from Nebraska, was staying at the hotel in late June while attending Dallas Pride Weekend and other LGBTQ events.
Barnett returned to the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre around 3:45 a.m. on June 24 and attempted to “valet her vehicle,” according to the lawsuit.
A hotel employee identified as Jeremy Morton approached her, said he was hotel security, and offered to take her car keys to the valet service. Barnett gave him her keys and went to her room on the 20th floor.
At 4:15 a.m., someone knocked on Barnett’s hotel room door. When she opened the door, Morton was standing there holding a stack of folded bath towels. After she told him she had not requested towels, Morton allegedly forced his way into the doorway, grabbed Barnett by the waist, fondled her breast and buttocks, and kissed her neck.
Barnett says Morton repeatedly told her, “I’m going to eat your pussy.”
She says she was frightened by Morton’s size and proximity, and by the fact that he had entered her room under false pretenses. She also feared that if Morton did not know she was transgender and were to find out, he might react violently. Barnett was eventually able to push Morton out of the room and lock the door.
Just minutes later, Barnett alleges, Morton sent her “an unsolicited and explicit video of himself masturbating, with his penis fully exposed, to the point of ejaculation.” She says he continued sending messages afterward, including offers to send her money through Cash App.
Later that morning, Barnett reported the assault to hotel management, who contacted the Dallas Police Department. During their investigation, police confirmed that the video and text messages were sent from Morton’s personal cell phone. Barnett later learned that Morton had accessed hotel records to obtain her cell phone number and room number.
Police charged Morton with assault with offensive contact and unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit material. Hotel officials later told Barnett that Morton had been suspended pending an internal investigation and subsequently resigned.
Barnett says she experienced emotional distress, fear, and physical symptoms related to trauma following the assault. In the weeks that followed, she developed “severe anxiety, sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, and an inability to tolerate physical contact.” She later sought professional psychological treatment, which she continues to receive.
A representative for Tolbert and Associates Law told the Dallas Voice that Barnett decided to move forward with a lawsuit against Hilton after attempts to negotiate with hotel officials failed.
“When our firm attempted conversations with Hilton to reveal systemic failures on their part, Hilton representatives repeatedly misgendered Ms. Barnett, and invalidated and dismissed her assault because of her being a trans woman,” the representative told the newspaper.
In her lawsuit, Barnett is seeking various damages, as well as payment of attorneys’ fees, court costs, and interest.
“I checked into the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre expecting what every guest expects: privacy, safety, and basic human dignity. Instead, one of the Hilton hotel’s security guards entered my room under false pretenses,” Barnett said in a statement to the Voice. “At that moment, I felt completely exposed and afraid. I did not know what might happen next, and I did not feel safe.”
“As a Black and Latina trans woman, I live with an added awareness of how quickly situations can become dangerous when someone’s identity is discovered without warning. At that moment, I feared for my physical safety,” she added. “No guest at a Hilton or any other hotel should ever have to trade their safety or dignity for a place to rest. Hilton has a responsibility to protect the people who stay with them. I want accountability, and I want change — not just for me, but so no one ever has to experience what I did.”
“Hilton has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” a spokesperson for the hotel chain told Metro Weekly.
The spokesperson declined to comment further on Barnett’s allegations, citing pending litigation, and referred additional inquiries to the management of the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, which is independently owned and operated. Aimbridge Hospitality, the company that manages the hotel, said it does not comment on active litigation.
Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud was arrested in West Palm Beach after allegedly trying to run down members of an LGBTQ running group during a meet-up in a local park. The Florida man faces two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving.
El Mahmoud could also face hate crime charges or bias enhancements for allegedly targeting the group because of their sexual orientation.
According to West Palm Beach police, El Mahmoud allegedly took offense at what he perceived as a comment about his sexual orientation when a runner asked if he was at Howard Park for the "Night Runners West Palm Beach" group's regular meet-up.
The year's nearly out. Sometimes that calls for taking sweet stock of the past months' wonderful events. Coming to the end of 2025, on the other hand, is more like getting to that denouement in the action movie where the survivors take a breath and pat each other on the back for having made it out alive. At this stage, we are Newt getting tucked-in to her Sulaco hibernation tube.
With some effort and a pinch of luck, may we all fare better in 2026 than poor Newt's end at the start of Alien 3.
Why such a shitty year? So much of it, obviously, can be laid at the feet of Lame Duck Donald. Not that he hasn't had loads of assistance in his evil efforts to erase our transgender family and friends, colleagues, and leaders during 2025. The purge, as promised, began right out of the gate on Inauguration Day.
The city of St. Petersburg has installed 11 rainbow-colored bike racks in response to the removal of several street murals -- including a Pride-themed mural -- by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The racks were installed in the Grand Central District at Central Avenue and 25th Street, the former location of one of five murals removed at the direction of federal and state authorities.
The mural at Central Avenue and 25th Street featured colored stripes representing the progressive Pride flag and was located just steps from Ride'em Cowboy, one of the city’s best-known LGBTQ nightclubs and a "safe space" for the community, according to Florida Politics.
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