On Thursday, police in Washington, D.C., charged a female security guard with assault for removing a man from the women’s restroom at a Giant supermarket. The man — who “identifies” as a “transgender woman” — called the police after he was removed from the restroom and the store by the security guard, 45-year-old Francine Jones. Jones was charged with simple assault. The police report notes that the “assault” is a suspected “hate crime.”
The incident began when the man who “identifies” as a “transgender woman” — Ebony Belcher — was visiting the Giant grocery store with his friend to receive a Western Union money transfer. On his way to the restroom, he passed Jones, who was on duty as a security guard employed by a third-party company providing security to the store. Jones immediately recognized Belcher as a man dressed as a woman and followed him into the restroom to tell him he had to leave. Belcher left the restroom, but refused to leave the store. He said the guard put her hand on his shoulder and grabbed him by the arm and pushed him out of the store.
Belcher, 32, told both police and reporters that Jones verbally assaulted him. “She opened the door and came in and started calling me derogatory names,” Belcher said, adding that Jones told him, “I know you are a man…. You guys cannot keep coming in here and using our women’s restroom. They did not pass the law yet.”
A great many Americans would consider that we are truly living in odd times when one is able to “choose” one’s “gender identity” and find it a “derogatory name” for someone to call a man a man.
Having first attempted to impersonate a woman and use the women’s restroom, and then refusing to leave the store when told to do so, Belcher was forcibly removed from the store by Jones. He later called the police on the advice of a friend who is an activist for the transgender community in D.C.
Belcher told NBC4 News that he has Parkinson’s Disease and struggles with walking. “I almost tripped and fell and busted my head, when she pushed me out the door,” he said. That is quite a prediction. It amounts to, “I almost tripped. If I had tripped, I might have fallen. If I had fallen, I might have busted my head.” One has to wonder why he stopped there. If he had tripped, fallen, and busted his head, he might have died. Considering the logic demonstrated by both Belcher and the D.C. Metro Police, perhaps Jones should have been charged with attempted murder.
Giant released a statement saying, “As this matter involves a third party that provides security services for Giant and there’s an ongoing criminal investigation, all inquiries related to the incident at the H Street Giant should be directed to the local police for a comment at this time.”
Jones is employed by Wolf Professional Security. Neither Jones nor her employer has made a public statement.
Since all armed security guards and the companies that employ them have to be licensed by the city to operate in D.C., the mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs is watching this case closely. Of course, it comes as no surprise that the city long-known for its liberal policies would have a special office to monitor LGBT affairs. The mayor previously banned all city employees from traveling to North Carolina on any city business after the Tar Heel State passed HB 2, which set aside all city and county ordinances forcing businesses to allow people to use the restrooms and changing rooms which match their imagined “gender identity.”
