DANBURY -- A Connecticut woman believes she was harassed at Walmart because a stranger thought she was transgender. Now, her story is going viral on Facebook.
Aimee Toms, 22 of Naugatuck, said she was at the Danbury Walmart when another woman told her she was in the wrong bathroom.
"She said you are not supposed to be here, you need to leave," Toms said in a video posted on her Facebook page Friday evening. "So I said 'yes I do,' and then she flipped me off and said 'you're disgusting' and she storms out."
Toms said she was wearing a baseball cap at the time and she recently donated her hair to a cancer charity.
"She just thought I was someone who is transgender and I was a dude who was hiding the bathroom," Toms said.
As of Monday evening, Toms' Facebook video had more than 21,000 views.
Warning: This video contains strong language that may be offensive to some viewers.
Aimee tells FOX 61 that she doesn't hold Walmart at fault for what happened. "I've told everyone I don't want [Walmart] blamed for it," she said.
But a group called "Making Change at Walmart" is now calling on the company to respond to the incident. The campaign released the following statement:
“Across the country, stores are proudly showing their support for the transgender community by either providing unisex bathrooms or by publicly announcing that transgender people are free to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. Yet, Walmart has not followed suit. Their silence is not only callous, it is dangerous.
It allows bigotry, like the incident in Connecticut, to get a free pass. As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has a responsibility to make sure all customers and employees, no matter their race, sex, religion, sexuality or gender identity, feel welcome and safe in their stores.”
On Friday, the Department of Education gave all schools across the country a directive to give transgender students fill access to the bathroom of their gender identity.
The U.S. Justice Department is suing North Carolina over their so-called bathroom law. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said North Carolina’s law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms and showers corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate amounts to “state-sponsored discrimination” and is aimed at “a problem that doesn’t exist.”
