Zee Pepper, a trans and aboriginal man in Melbourne, Australia, is speaking out after experiencing allegedly blatant transphobia in a restaurant at the start of Pride Month.
Pepper was dining at the Soho restaurant in Australia’s second city with his mother and stepsister when he went to use the restroom. He opted for the unisex handicapped bathroom, as he usually does when there’s a choice between unisex and men’s bathrooms.
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“I always feel safer, obviously,” Pepper said in an Instagram story detailing his abuse.
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While Pepper isn’t disabled, it’s perfectly legal for able-bodied people to use handicapped restrooms in Australia.
As he went to enter, he says he was stopped by a person claiming to be the manager of the restaurant.
“He was very overpowering and was demanding that I use the male toilets,” Pepper told the Star Observer. “I quietly and politely said to him that I am trans and that I don’t feel safe to use the male toilets at this time, and that I do have a right to use the unisex ambulant toilet. He responded by laughing in my face, saying he doesn’t care, and pointing and demanding I use the males.”
“At that point, I became visibly upset and angry. I asked him, ‘Are you mocking me for being trans?’ We went back and forth — him stating I need to use the males, me saying I felt unsafe and have a right to this toilet.”
Pepper alleges that the staffer then barricaded the door to the unisex toilet with a pair of posts, before saying, “There, now you can’t use it at all.”
