Trans teen’s tears after bar refuses to serve her ... ‘as she doesn’t look like her ID’
A TRANSGENDER teenager was left in tears after being refused service in a bar because staff did not believe her proof of ID was genuine.
Savanna Galloway, 19, used her passport to prove her age but was told ‘That’s not you’ – despite her explaining she is trans.
The pub chain Wetherspoons has apologised and said it will review its policies on asking transgender customers to provide ID. However, the firm stressed it was a legal requirement for ‘a valid ID which resembles the person presenting it’ to be provided.
Miss Galloway said: ‘I felt horrible. I didn’t want to cry... I waited till the staff left the table before I left in tears.’
She added: ‘I was lucky enough to be with friends and that we were in a private area – but if I was rejected in front of loads of people, I think it would have felt even worse.’
The teenager was with friends in the
Counting House in Glasgow city centre on September 2, and was allowed entry at the door after showing her passport.
The group ordered drinks, using an app, but when the barman delivered them to the table, he questioned Miss Galloway’s age.
She showed him her passport but he refused to agree the picture was of her and the identification was not accepted. He sent for a manager, who agreed with the barman, even though Miss Galloway explained she was transgender and offered to take off her wig to show herself with short hair – as it is in her passport picture. She told the staff her face had not changed structurally, adding: ‘I think it still visibly looks like me’.
In a social media post after the incident, Miss Galloway’s sister Sam claimed she also tried to offer ‘additional documentation’ with her name on it but that was refused. Miss Galloway thinks bars should change their procedures for asking trans customers to provide ID.
Being surrounded by a network of supportive friends and relatives since she came out in February last year, Miss Galloway said this was the first time she felt uncomfortable. ‘I felt like absolute dirt,’ she told the BBC.
A spokesman for Wetherspoons apologised ‘wholeheartedly for any distress caused’. He added: ‘The incident has shown that providing ID for transgender customers may present difficulties and we will review our processes.’