How to approach the sensitive issue of transgender customers

09-Apr-2017 - Last updated on 10-Apr-2017 at 10:18 GMT

Another way: Stonewall is encouraging licensees to introduce gender-neutral facilities

Taking the sensitive approach to transgender customers is what all pub operators would like to think they would do. But after a Sussex licensee asked a transgender woman to use a disabled toilet, it begs the question of what approach licensees should take both morally and legally when faced with this situation.

Picture the scene. A long-standing male customer well-known in the local community comes out as a woman, wants to be known as a woman from now on and expects to be able to use the female toilet facilities in their local.

This was the situation presented to Sokol Kapllani, the licensee at the Devonshire in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex. In this case, the licensee asked the customer to use the disabled toilet.

This might sound like a breach of the Equalities Act 2010, as that stipulates that gender reassignment – as well as race, disability, pregnancy, religion, gender and sexual orientation – is a protected characteristic. That means that it is illegal to discriminate directly or indirectly against these characteristics.

Know the law

People who access your goods, facilities and services are protected from direct discrimination on the basis of a ‘protected characteristic’. The characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.

However, a Government briefing that accompanies the Act says that providers of separate-sex services, such as toilets, “have the right to make decisions on what facilities transsexual people can use”. Although the briefing then adds that business owners should take account of the sensitivity of this issue.

A reputation to defend

Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) chief executive Kate Nicholls said that being open and welcoming was part of a pub’s charm and key in situations similar to that faced at the Devonshire.

“The country’s pubs have a reputation for being welcoming and open environments, enjoyed by an incredibly wide customer-base reflecting all aspects of society. Much of the pub’s charm lies in the fact it provides a hospitable atmosphere regardless of one’s background,” she said.

British Beer & Pub Association chief executive Brigid Simmonds added that it was vital licensees made sure they were familiar with the Equality Act 2010 to ensure they are sensitive to customer needs.

Gender-neutral facilities encouraged

LGBT charity Stonewall, meanwhile, advocates gender-neutral facilities in public toilets to ensure that transgender customers feel welcome and a spokesperson for the charity added that this was something that pubs should consider.

“We suggest some easy steps, such as designating facilities gender neutral and ensuring that trans people know they are welcome to use the facilities they find most appropriate,” a spokesperson for the charity said.