Aimee Toms was washing her hands in the women’s bathroom at Walmart in Danbury, Conn., last week when a woman approached her and said, “You’re disgusting” and “You need to leave.”
The 22-year-old claims she was harassed by the woman after apparently being mistaken as transgender.
Toms’ pixie haircut was covered by a baseball cap when the woman allegedly said, “You are not supposed to be here,” before flipping her off.
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“She thought I was someone who was transgender. She thought I was a dude who was hiding in the women’s bathroom,” Toms said.
Toms has now responded in a video posted to Facebook condemning discrimination against transgender people.
“After experiencing the discrimination they face firsthand, I cannot fathom the discrimination transgender people must face in a lifetime,” she said.
She hopes her video will help others understand that transgender people deserve to be treated equally.
“It really got my gears turning as to how amazingly ridiculous this is becoming as an issue.”
“I don’t know if many of you know this but you’ve probably used the bathroom with somebody who is transgender before.”
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Toms believes the incident happened because of the controversy sparked by a law that was passed in North Carolina that mandates bathroom access according to birth sex.
She believes people have developed unjustified fears of being attacked by someone who could abuse transgender bathrooms.
She explained that if someone wants to commit a crime in a bathroom, they are going to do it anyway regardless if it’s a transgender bathroom.
Global News has reached out to Walmart for comment but after 24 hours the request was not returned.
Toms’ video “rant” on Facebook about her experience at Walmart has gone viral and has been viewed more than 180,000 times.