By Erin Spencer, Jessica Garcia, and Raisa Tillis
Austin,TX-Early Saturday morning on April 11, 2015, Tyler Grant, a public health junior at The University of Texas was denied service at Whataburger after a night of hanging with friends.
Austin,TX-Early Saturday morning on April 11, 2015, Tyler Grant, a public health junior at The University of Texas was denied service at Whataburger after a night of hanging with friends.
Grant, who identifies as genderqueer, left a drag show with some friends and went to a Whataburger restaurant located in the West Campus area near the university. His initial plan was to get a bite to eat at the local eatery of choice for many UT students.
When Grant arrived to Whataburger, the police officer at the door immediately turned him away and told him he couldn't enter.
The officer told him that his outfit wasn’t appropriate for entering the establishment.
Grant had on cheetah print lingerie with five layers of panty hose and some thigh pads.
After being question by Grant for his reasoning, the officer then went to get Whataburger's manager who was working the nightshift to discuss the situation with her.
“I don’t think my outfit had anything to do with why I couldn’t get inside of Whataburger,” said Grant. “I realized he didn’t let me in because he realized I wasn’t a women, I got really, really pissed.”
Grant said that at first he couldn’t go inside Whataburger because he didn’t have shoes on, but when the officer told him to put them on and he heard his voice things went south from there.
Later that night, Grant got on Facebook and made a post about the incident that occurred, expressing his frustration and disappointment with Whataburger and APD.
Wilfrido Rodriguez, a member of the Delta Lambda Phi and one of Grant’s friends, was shocked when he saw what happened to Grant early that morning.
“It really made me frustrated with Whataburger just because they were judging him based on his clothing," said Rodriguez. "It made me really mad. The fact that the police officer neglected him after he found out he was a guy hurt me. It hurt to see that he had to have this experience happen to him.”
After hours of responses from family and friends, Grant’s video a post went viral.
The next day, Grant went back to Whataburger to talk to the manager about how he felt discriminated against the previous night.
However, the manager gave him the same response; he was not allowed in because of his clothing.
Austin has a nondiscrimination ordinance that prevents public accommodations from discriminating against individuals based on gender identity.
Grant went to Student Legal Services for advice on possible legal action for this incident.
He recently met with the city of Austin this week to file an official complaint against Whataburger. He said that it went well and Whataburger would be notified within 10 days of the investigation.
Although there isn’t any punishment for breaking the nondiscrimination ordinance, Grant just wants them to know that what they did was wrong and hopes to create a less discriminatory environment for himself and others.
When Grant arrived to Whataburger, the police officer at the door immediately turned him away and told him he couldn't enter.
The officer told him that his outfit wasn’t appropriate for entering the establishment.
Grant had on cheetah print lingerie with five layers of panty hose and some thigh pads.
After being question by Grant for his reasoning, the officer then went to get Whataburger's manager who was working the nightshift to discuss the situation with her.
“I don’t think my outfit had anything to do with why I couldn’t get inside of Whataburger,” said Grant. “I realized he didn’t let me in because he realized I wasn’t a women, I got really, really pissed.”
Grant said that at first he couldn’t go inside Whataburger because he didn’t have shoes on, but when the officer told him to put them on and he heard his voice things went south from there.
Later that night, Grant got on Facebook and made a post about the incident that occurred, expressing his frustration and disappointment with Whataburger and APD.
Wilfrido Rodriguez, a member of the Delta Lambda Phi and one of Grant’s friends, was shocked when he saw what happened to Grant early that morning.
“It really made me frustrated with Whataburger just because they were judging him based on his clothing," said Rodriguez. "It made me really mad. The fact that the police officer neglected him after he found out he was a guy hurt me. It hurt to see that he had to have this experience happen to him.”
After hours of responses from family and friends, Grant’s video a post went viral.
The next day, Grant went back to Whataburger to talk to the manager about how he felt discriminated against the previous night.
However, the manager gave him the same response; he was not allowed in because of his clothing.
Austin has a nondiscrimination ordinance that prevents public accommodations from discriminating against individuals based on gender identity.
Grant went to Student Legal Services for advice on possible legal action for this incident.
He recently met with the city of Austin this week to file an official complaint against Whataburger. He said that it went well and Whataburger would be notified within 10 days of the investigation.
Although there isn’t any punishment for breaking the nondiscrimination ordinance, Grant just wants them to know that what they did was wrong and hopes to create a less discriminatory environment for himself and others.
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