Transgender Man Settles Lawsuit With Barbershop That Denied Him A Haircut

A transgender man who was refused a haircut has reached a settlement with the barbershop that had denied him the service, reports the L.A. Times.

According to Rose Trevis he'd entered Hawleywood's Barber Shop & Shaving Parlor in Long Beach in March and was told that the barbers didn't "cut women's hair."

"Who says I'm a woman?" Trevis replied.

"Like I said, we don't cut women's hair," he was told.

Super-attorney Gloria Allred later filed a civil rights lawsuit on March 29 on behalf of Trevis. This week both parties reached a settlement in which the barber business, which has 3 locations in the Southland, will pay an undisclosed sum to Trevis. The business has also agreed to end its discriminatory practices, though, according to the Times, court documents show that it maintains that it had not engaged in any wrongdoing. The agreement states that the defendant "enters into this stipulation solely for the purpose of avoiding the expense and demands of litigation." OK then.

It does seem, though, that Hawleywood's is making some changes on their end. For example, their website used to say that the "one thing you won't see at Hawleywood's is women. You all know how distracting a woman can be and who wants a straight razor shave with a buxom blonde in the joint?" Now, that statement is nowhere to be found.

In California, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, enacted way back in 1959, ensures that "all persons are entitled to full and equal accommodations" in "all business establishments, including both private and public entities." The law protects against "gender, gender identity and gender expression."

According to City News Service the agreement was reached on Tuesday.

Allred responded to our request for a comment by saying that there will be a press conference on Monday morning. We reached out to Bryan R. Kazarian, who served as general counsel for Hawleywood's back in March, but he was not available for comment at the moment.