A female songwriter who often wears men's clothing demanded an apology Thursday from the general manager of the Beverly Hills Hotel, saying she was ejected from a women's restroom and verbally abused by a security guard.
Standing outside the hotel with her attorney, Tanya White said she has worn men's clothing most of her life. She said she was forced out of the women's restroom by hotel security guards, one of whom referred to her as “it.”
“To be called an it — I'm a human being, I'm not an it,” White said. “No matter how I look I'm still a woman. There was three guys surrounding me, and it was the biggest guy that was beating me up verbally.”
White, who has written songs for Janet Jackson and Seal, said the confrontation happened last Sept. 23 while she was attending a birthday party for actress LisaRaye McCoy attended by about 300 people.
“I felt under attack,” White said. “What began as a beautiful night ended up as one of the worst nights of my life.”
White said she also felt “dehumanized” and that no one bothered to ask her for identification.
White was at the hotel with her songwriter friend, La Trece Barney, who said she “felt sick to my stomach about how my friend Tanya was treated.”
White's attorney, Gloria Allred, said White should have been left alone after the security guards realized her client was a woman.
Wendy Schnee, the hotel's director of public relations, was not immediately available for comment, according to City News Service.
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