A group of women were kicked out of a Cardiff bar this weekend with some of them also being detained by police. This due to allegedly harassing a transgender woman.

According to reports on social media from those who were present for or witnessed the event; the women were kicked out of a Cardiff bar after confronting a transgender woman in the bathroom. By their own admission they called her a man and told her she should not be using the women’s bathroom.

We assume that this trans woman then told the bar staff what happened who asked the whole group to leave. According to other reports on social media this included other patrons who state they were not even sitting with the customers who had confronted the woman in the bathroom. They believe they were discriminated against for looking like they were associated with the group who were kicking off.

Though some also report getting involved and getting themselves thrown out by being obtuse. Such as by asking questions of the staff like “what’s a trans woman?” and “what’s transphobia?” This patron admits to having made fun of the bouncers on her way out before then circling back around to talk to other customers through the fence. Notably these are the customers from the previous paragraph.

The women are believed to have attended a FiLiA conference in Cardiff that happened earlier that day. Many tag the group’s social media into their complaints about the event. You can read more about FiLiA via my friends at Trans Safety Network, but they are a decidedly anti-trans org. Even having both submitted written evidence and appearing in person at Parliament to oppose GRA reform.

When asked to leave the bar it appears they refused and so the police were called. Inspector Darren Grady of South Wales Police gave the following statement to Wales Online; “At around 2am on Monday morning South Wales Police received a report from a bar on Mill Lane in Cardiff city centre that a number of females were refusing to leave the premises after making transphobic comments and threats to a member of the public inside. The group were removed from the premises by door staff and a 54-year-old woman was arrested for a public order offence. She was de-arrested, as the victim did not want any further police action, and given suitable words of advice.”

I reached out to the bar for a statement but did not receive a response.

Outraged social media users have found the bar online and some have even begun review-bombing it.

Other reports suggest that the police attempted ‘restorative justice’ techniques by way of apology. Simply saying sorry to the woman she harassed would have had the police leave immediately, but she refused and ended up spending a couple hours on the adult naughty step – a police van – to calm down.

Opinion time; what do I make of the fact that some women were kicked out of a Cardiff bar for allegedly harassing a trans woman in the bathroom and then self-admittedly kicking off at staff about it to the point that police had to be called to remove them from the premises? Sounds about right yeah.

We’ve seen this exact thing play out numerous times before such as the incident which (briefly) had the transphobes calling themselves “lesbians on chairs”. The short story there is that they attended a speech being given by Mermaids founder Susie Green who recognised them, reported it to the venue owner. The venue owner then asked them to leave but they they refused and so the police were called. We ended up with a video of Julia Long being carried out by police and headlines about how seven police officers manhandled tiny lesbians.

Both events show patrons kicking off at the venue owners about the incidents while claiming discrimination, but even if that was the case you’re not going to win an argument with the cops about it. When a venue owner asks you to leave you leave – if you believe you were discriminated against then you can take the venue to court and make the argument there instead.

The Equality Act 2010 protects people on the basis of a variety of different characteristics. For example the trans woman was protected from the bar refusing her service or kicking her out of the bathroom via the protected characteristic “gender reassignment”. Which, in short, means you can’t treat her differently than you would treat cis people.

There is also a protected characteristic for philosophical belief, which includes transphobia due to CGD v Forstater. Meaning that if these women were kicked out of a Cardiff bar due to their beliefs alone they could very well sue the bar for discrimination. However this likely doesn’t include the individual who confronted the woman in the bathroom or anyone else who got aggro with staff.

The woman who actually faced discrimination in this story; the transgender woman, has not come forward to give comment. Though according to police she didn’t attempt to press charges which is honestly more generous than I would have been. If a transphobe tries to mess up my night out by being a bully in a bathroom then you bet I’m making an example of them if I get the chance. No quarter for bigots.

The take-away here is that we’re going to see more events like this. Transphobes have been getting more and more emboldened due to positive media attention and a Government that constantly dogwhistles in support of them or otherwise straight up uses their anti-trans rhetoric.

Groups with sizeable transphobe populations hold conferences like this all the time. Their attendees then often hit the local area for drinks. They then find themselves being thrown out of places when they get drunk enough to forget that they aren’t still in the safety of their anti-trans echo chambers. To which they feign outrage and act surprised. I can think of a half dozen of these stories off the top of my head.

If you’re going on a night out with a trans friend – keep them safe.