This week at the Melbourne venue Yah Yah’s, Simona Castricum, a renowned DJ and transgender woman, was booted from the club’s restroom after being accosted by security.
“A male security guard stood in the doorway of the women’s bathroom and pointed at me and yelled at me quite aggressively ‘out of the bathroom,’” she recounted in a statement to The Age. “I said, ‘I’m a woman, I’m a trans woman.'”
Despite Castricum’s response, the security guard continued to yell until another woman came to the musician’s aid. The club has a gender-neutral restroom policy on Thursday nights, the evening of the incident.
Castricum is credited for having written the city’s guidelines for inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse individuals at live music venues. “Rather than a name and shame, cancel [or] call-out, I’m looking at Yah Yah’s to lead by example, commit to education and accountability and change their culture so that any trans and gender diverse person on any night will feel safe as the venue moves forward,” she said.
James Young, the club’s owner, confirmed the incident and described it as “very embarrassing.” The employee was reprimanded for the incident and will be retrained before being allowed to return to work. Young and the guard have since apologized to Castricum.
