Woman booted from federal building for gay T-shirt

Lapriss Gilbert, who was ordered out of the Social Security office in Van Nuys on Monday because her T-shirt bore the words "lesbian.com," says she plans to sue the security guard who told her the shirt was offensive and then forced her to leave. The Daily News has details:

As she headed for a line to pick up a Social Security card for her son, Gilbert was stopped by a guard who said her T-shirt, naming an educational and resource Web site for gay women, was offensive.

She said the guard, who works for a private company hired by the Department of Homeland Security, demanded that she leave the building or face arrest.

"As an African-American and a lesbian, I haven't been through one day without facing some sort of discrimination ... but this is just shocking," said Gilbert, 31.

Lori Haley, a federal spokeswoman for the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - which is under the Homeland Security umbrella - said the guard was out of line.

"We believe that the actions of the contract security guard were inappropriate and unacceptable - we have notified his company, Paragon, of our position in the matter," Haley said.

The guard cited federal guidelines to back up his actions. Think Gloria Allred's phone is ringing yet?

--Veronique de Turenne

Comments

[Pam]

That's ridiculous! Since when is being a lesbian offensive to anyone with a brain? I hope that bigot loses his job...by the way, I'm a 60 year old straight woman.

[mike vanstone]

Wow - she is going to be a rich women! I can't imagine there is still so much homophobia around!

[Donald from Hawaii]

It's quite clear that such tired notions and obsolete ideas about homosexuality will die a hard death. Speaking for myself only, I consider it a tremendous sign of progress that the federal authorities in Van Nuys have publicly repudiated the security guard's comments and actions. Rather than take continued public umbrage over the incident in question, Ms. Gilbert should instead accept the federal apology with a quiet grace and dignity, and rejoice in the fact that publicly-expressed bias in the workplace against members of the GLBT community is now considered by most employers and contractors to be an actionable offense.