A prominent activist for women-only spaces claims she was kicked out of a lesbian bar after a transgender patron complained about her presence.
Jenny Watson, 32, says she was charged with a “hate crime” in the traumatic incident, and claims bouncers pulled her out with such force that her wrists were bruised.
Although she had no interactions with anyone other than her friends at She bar in Soho, London, last month, she believes a transgender customer recognized her on social media and urged staff to kick her out.
Watson says staff told him he had “committed a hate crime” without specifying what, adding: “I suspect this trans-identified man came to staff because he recognized me, then they made this decision because of what he said.” The expulsion was clearly motivated by my beliefs.’
Ms Watson, a town planner, is now considering legal action as it is illegal to discriminate based on gender-critical views.
Jenny Watson outside the College Arms Pub in Bloomsbury which banned its lesbian speed dating night because it is not considered trans-inclusive.
SHE Soho Lesbian Bar in Soho, a very popular lesbian bar in London. Many of London’s gay bars are clustered around Soho, the traditional centre.
She rejected any suggestion that she was transphobic: ‘I never say anything I hate. I believe in gender dysphoria and that trans people exist.’
But she maintains that as increasing numbers of men identify as women and lesbians, there is a need to protect single-sex spaces. She plans to launch her own bar and dating app just for biologically female lesbians.
‘Lesbians are under attack, not by the outside world, but by the LGBTQ+ movement. If a man can dictate who can stay in a lesbian bar, then lesbian spaces are no longer safe for lesbians. This has to change.”
A spokeswoman for the bar said it had been “a safe and welcoming environment for the LGBTQ+ community” for more than 20 years, and that police had attended and “dismissed any claims of unlawful eviction”.
Watson was involved in a transphobia row last year when she said only “adult human women” could join her lesbian speed dating events.
