Government
Aug. 9, 2002
Transgender Woman Sues Beauty College
LOS ANGELES - A transgender woman filed suit Wednesday against a beauty college she says denied her admission out of concern for which bathroom she would use.
Her lawyer said the lawsuit is the first to challenge discrimination against transgender people under a 1979 Los Angeles municipal code section that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The woman, identified at a press conference only as "Sandy," claims she was denied acceptance to Marinello School of Beauty in Los Angeles because the administration was concerned that she would use the women's restroom at the school. W.R. v. Marinello School of Beauty BC279131 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 7, 2002).
For three years, Sandy, who filed the lawsuit under the pseudonym W.R., has lived as a woman, even though she has male genitalia.
"I feel like I'm a woman," she said at a news conference at attorney Gloria Allred's Wilshire Boulevard office which is not far from the beauty school.
Allred, said the lawsuit was filed under a pseudonym to protect the privacy of her client.
"She just wants to protect her privacy as to her name," Allred said. The news conference "was a big step, but she understands that it was necessary to speak out. It's not necessary to give her name as far as she is concerned."
Allred said the lawsuit "may be the first of its kind under the city ordinance which prohibits sexual orientation discrimination."
The city code defines sexual orientation to include those "projecting a self-image not associated with one's biological maleness or one's biological femaleness."
Sandy, a tall, attractive woman with meticulous makeup and French-manicured toenails was neatly dressed in a black pantsuit. She gave only minimal information about her background.
But she said she cried when she learned she was unable to attend the school.
"I just wanted to educate myself to be successful in the future, but because of discrimination they did not give me that opportunity at all," she said.
Sandy said she holds a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations from a university she declined to name. It was after she received her degree that she decided she wanted to "be a woman all the time."
On July 18, she registered, took a test and paid a $100 registration fee at the Marinello School of Beauty on Wilshire Boulevard.
She was accepted as a student and told to report to classes beginning Tuesday. But two hours later, Sandy received a phone call from someone at the school who said she could not attend the school because she is really a man, according to Allred.
The school official said she was "concerned about whether Sandy would use the women's restroom or the men's restroom while at school," Allred said. "Sandy offered to not use the restroom while enrolled, or to use the restroom of their choice, but the school refused Sandy's offer."
Sandy also told the school representative that she would dress like a man if it meant she could attend the school, but that idea was rejected as well.
"Do they think I'm going to rape a woman in the restroom?" Sandy asked. "I don't think so."
Officials of the beauty school did not return phone calls seeking comment.
The issue of gender identity discrimination lawsuits has been around for decades, with published decisions on transgender legal issues around nationally for several decades, said Myron Dean Quon, deputy director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in Los Angeles.
The lawsuits have been "very few and far and between, more recently in the last 10 years," he said. "With more and more local municipalities extending express protection, you will see more lawsuits, before equal protection or other basic arguments."
Sandy's lawsuit also alleges violation of the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act.
"To my knowledge, this could arguably be one of the first lawsuits concerning a transgender student denied enrollment," Quon said. "You definitely can argue it's ground-breaking."
Quon said there have been some recent high-profile cases in the state concerning gender identity. One case involved Sacramento-area teacher Dana Rivers, who, as David Warfield, discussed with his students his plans to get a sex change.
He never returned to the classroom after the school year because the Center Unified School District board of trustees voted to fire Rivers for discussing his plans with the students.
In 1999, the award-winning teacher, who had the operation and now goes by Dana Rivers, settled with the school district for $150,000.
Over the years, several firms around the state have focused on transgender issues. In 2001, the nation's first legal services agency devoted exclusively to transgender people was launched in San Francisco.
Leslie Simmons
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