A bartender in Portland, Oregon, has been found guilty of a hate crime due to a confrontation with a transgender individual over restroom usage. This story is yet another showing how the progressive left seeks to use the state to enforce its gender ideology on others.
The altercation occurred when Riis Larsen, a biological male, sought to use the women’s restroom. Surveillance video shows Cassie McIntyre, the bartender, confronting Larsen, an act which culminated in her being convicted of second-degree bias and harassment charges.
Testifying in court Tuesday, Larsen said she had just stepped out of the women’s bathroom, a single-user room with a locking door, when McIntyre cornered her and told her she “was a man” and should use the other toilet.
Larsen, 35, said she tried to explain her gender identity but McIntyre, 40, told her to “get out” using an expletive, then shoved her. The video showed the shove but didn’t record audio.
Surveillance footage showed both women approaching the on-duty bartender following the brief altercation. Another patron, R.J. Stangland, testified that he could hear McIntyre continuing to use the wrong pronouns for Larsen and saying Larsen should not be allowed to use the women’s bathroom.
Larsen said she settled up and left the establishment in tears and called 911 later that night.
“She is scrutinized in a different way than most of us in our day-to-day lives are scrutinized,” prosecutor Charlie Weiss told the jury during closing arguments. “People sometimes express disagreement not with what she says, or what she does, but who she is.”
In her own testimony, McIntyre claimed Larsen had cut in line for the women’s bathroom and pushed another regular, who complained. McIntyre said she then intercepted Larsen but didn’t understand she was misgendering her.
“I wasn’t trying to misgender her — I had to look up what transgender was in the dictionary,” McIntyre said. “We were just arguing over spilt milk.”
McIntyre didn’t deny pushing Larsen but called it “making space.” Larsen said she never jostled anyone.
Judge Christopher Marshall sentenced McIntyre to 50 hours of community service and two years of probation.
This incident raises serious questions about the effort to force gender ideology on the public using the force of government. Given that the quarrel occurred in Portland, this outcome is no surprise.
Convicting McIntyre of a hate crime over this matter shows just how depraved local governments have become. The notion that a business should be compelled to allow biological males in women’s spaces is about as disturbing as it gets. The fact that the bartender is facing two years of probation is even worse. Furthermore, it is also troubling that McIntyre had to essentially do the legal version of groveling for mercy to avoid a harsher punishment.
While this happened in Portland, a bastion for progressivism, we should never make the mistake of believing this can’t happen elsewhere – even in red states. Even areas of the country governed by conservatives are pushing this ideology, especially in schools. Those who don’t want to fall victim to the left’s use of state power better start pushing to make sure the government does not have the power to prosecute people for not bowing down.
