Restaurant to Pay $7K in Penalties, Legal Costs After Employee Tells Man Not to Use Women’s Restroom

WASHINGTON — A restaurant in the nation’s capital has agreed to a settlement that includes the payment of $7,000 in penalties and legal costs after the attorney general of Washington, D.C. found the eatery guilty of discrimination against a man who identifies as a woman.

According to a press release from the office of D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, the Cuba Libra Restaurant has agreed to allow patrons to use the restaurant that corresponds to their “gender identity or expression,” will “institute policies and employee training to ensure compliance with the District’s non-discrimination laws,” and will pay $7,000 over the matter.

The situation occurred in June when a man who identifies as a woman, who goes by the name Charlotte Clymer, sought to use the women’s restroom, but was stopped by an employee, who asked to see his identification. Clymer used the women’s restroom, but was advised again afterward that he needed to use the restroom that corresponded with his legal identification.

The incident was reported in the media, and the District of Columbia launched an investigation. Cuba Libre was found to have violated the district’s Human Rights Act, which states that it is unlawful to “deny directly or indirectly, any person the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and accommodations of any place of public accommodations.”

Cuba Libre also conducted an internal investigation and fired the employee involved. It additionally adopted a policy about the matter, and made a donation to a local “transgender” advocacy organization Casa Ruby as part of a resolution with the offended individual.

Co-Owner Barry Gutin told the outlet Eater that he will be bringing in the founder of Casa Ruby to conduct a employee workshop about understanding those who identify as transgender and how to comply with Washington, D.C. regulations.

As part of its settlement with the district, the restaurant is also required to post a sign outside of its restrooms advising that patrons are permitted to use the facility that corresponds to their “gender identity or expression.”

“The district’s laws reflect one of our residents’ most deeply-held values: that all people should be treated equally,” Racine said in a statement. “With this settlement, Cuba Libre is required to maintain policies that will ensure this type of discrimination does not happen again.”

Read the settlement in full here.

As previously reported, the Bible teaches that all men are in the same predicament: All are born with the Adamic sin nature and are “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), having various inherent inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of changing themselves. It is why Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus saith unto him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ‘Ye must be born again.’”

“Bitter experience teaches that the imprisoning net clings too tightly to be stripped from our limbs by our own efforts. Nay rather, the net and the captive are one, and he who tries to cast off the oppression which hinders him from following that which is good is trying to cast off himself,” also wrote the late preacher and Bible commentator Alexander Maclaren.

“But to men writhing in the grip of a sinful past, or paralyzed beyond writhing and indifferent, because [they are] hopeless, or because they have come to like their captivity, comes one whose name is ‘The Breaker,’ whose mission it is to proclaim liberty to the captives, and whose hand laid on the cords that bind a soul, causes them to drop harmless from the limbs and sets the bondsman free.”

Jesus declared in John 8, “Verily, verily, I say unto you: Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

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