Updated on Nov. 26, 11:32 a.m.
A bouncer at Makati bar NoKal is being accused of misgendering a trans woman who was about to enter the establishment.
The allegations were made by Jade So on Twitter who said that the bouncer referred to her friend as “sir” three times on Sunday night. So claims that she tried correcting the bouncer by calling her friend “miss” or “ma’am,” but her requests were allegedly ignored. “The bouncer replied back to me, ‘Yun yung nakalagay sa ID ni sir,'” (It says sir on his ID) So alleges.
In another tweet, So notes that her friend didn’t have a gender marker on her ID.
“I pulled my friend away and decided to not enter that establishment. To NoKal management, I hope you do some seminars about this,” So concluded.
NoKal has reached out and apologized to the two women. “[The NoKal team] told us that the bouncer has been fired and the rest will undergo the sensitivity training,” So said in a tweet.
The bar also posted a statement on their Facebook page to address the incident. “We at NoKal pride ourselves in upholding a culture of inclusivity. As such, it was unfortunate for us to find out that an incident like what happened last week had occurred. We believe in creating a safe and fun environment for our guests. It’s never our intention for people to go home feeling uncomfortable,” it said. NoKal promised to take necessary steps in educating themselves and the staff on how to handle such situations.
Once again, a local bar is put in the spotlight for alleged mistreatment and disrespect of the trans community. Last August, Early Night? in BGC was called out for barring a trans woman from entering the bar because of an alleged dress code.
The lesson here: Respect people’s pronouns and stop misgendering them.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
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