Vancouver punk band Rougaroux cancelled a show in Charlottetown after transgender singer Marina Hanly said she was stopped from using the venue’s women’s bathroom — prompting wider criticism from Prince Edward Island’s LGBTQ+ and music communities.
A queer punk band has walked away from a Canadian gig after its transgender lead singer said she was prevented from using the women’s washroom at the venue.
Rougaroux was due to perform at Sportsman’s Club in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, as part of a cross-country tour when singer Marina Hanly said a bartender approached her as she prepared to enter the women’s facilities.
Hanly said the staff member taped up a handwritten sign reading “ladies only” and told her the venue was “very strict about this”.
“As I was just outside of the washroom … the bartender came up and taped up a little handwritten paper sign outside the door,” Hanly told CBC News.
She did not enter the washroom.
‘We were leaving’
Hanly’s bandmate and fiancé, George Finley, said he later removed the sign and confronted the bartender about what had happened.
Finley recalled asking why the sign had been put up as his fiancée approached the washroom.
According to him, the bartender responded: “Well, if she’s female, there should be no problem.”
The band then decided not to perform.
“There are four trans women travelling with us, including Marina, and I myself am a trans man,” Finley said.
“So I walked over there and I told everyone to get the gear and get out, that we were leaving.”
Rougaroux’s members are transgender and queer, and Hanly said LGBTQ+ identity is a prominent part of the band’s music and public presence.
“It’s pretty clear that we are talking about queerness and that that is kind of like a big part of our identity as a band,” she said.
Venue confirms restrictive washroom policy
A person identifying themselves as the manager of Sportsman’s Club gave CBC a different account of aspects of the confrontation, but confirmed that the venue does not allow transgender people to use its gendered washrooms according to their gender identity.
The manager said the business attempts to accommodate transgender patrons, but that this does not extend to its existing washroom facilities.
The venue does not have gender-neutral washrooms and, according to the manager, had no plans to change the policy.
That policy appears to conflict with guidance from the Prince Edward Island Human Rights Commission.
The Commission says gender identity and gender expression are protected characteristics under the province’s Human Rights Act and states that people have the right to work and receive services according to their gender identity.
Its public guidance is even more direct on washroom access, stating: “Everyone has the right to use washrooms and changerooms based on their lived gender identity.”
Whether the specific incident amounts to unlawful discrimination would ultimately depend on the facts and any formal human-rights process.
Local performers pull support
The incident has also prompted a backlash within Prince Edward Island’s music community.
Local performer Derrick Biso, who was scheduled to appear at the show in drag as Remedy, described the incident as “really disappointing” and “very discouraging”.
Biso said they believed restricting washroom access for trans people raised serious human-rights concerns.
Other local acts have since begun cancelling performances at Sportsman’s Club in response to the incident, with musicians saying the policy does not represent the wider values of the province’s music scene.
For Rougaroux, however, the decision to leave appears to have been immediate.
The band had travelled to Prince Edward Island as part of a much larger national tour, but chose to cancel the performance rather than remain at a venue whose policy did not allow its transgender members to use gendered washrooms in line with their identities.
