Woman who says she was accused of being a man in Boston hotel bathroom files complaint with AG’s office
Ansley Baker said she was forced from the women’s restroom when a security guard banged on the stall door and asked for her ID.
By Molly Farrar
May 8, 2025
The woman who says a security guard at a Boston hotel accosted her in the women’s bathroom and accused her of being a man filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office about the experience.
“It honestly just felt like my worst nightmare coming true,” Ansley Baker told The Boston Globe. The security guard “was aggressive right off the bat, telling me to get out and accusing me of being a man.”
Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office confirmed that they are processing complaints about the incident. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination did not comment on any ongoing investigations.
Baker, who is 6 feet tall with short hair, told the Globe she was confronted by a security guard at the Liberty Hotel on Charles Street, who banged on the stall door and demanded to see her ID.
Baker’s partner, Elizabeth Victor, first shared the couple’s experience at the Liberty Hotel as a Google review, which is no longer available. The couple were attending a Kentucky Derby party Saturday May 3, she said.
“She was humiliated and physically confronted while still inside the stall, pulling up her pants, and forced to show ID to ‘prove’ her sex,” Victor wrote in an online Google review. “Even after verifying she is a woman, we were both ejected from the event entirely, while shaken, crying, and publicly shamed.”
The hotel initially said the women were in a stall together, which is not allowed, and were ultimately removed because one of the women “put their hands on our security team.” Victor denied that they were sharing a stall.
The hotel then seemingly walked back its statement a day later, saying the security guard was suspended from their position after an investigation. Victor said in an Instagram story that “the original statement from The Liberty Hotel was based purely on false claims from the security officer, who is now temporarily suspended.”
Liberty Hotel said the hotel’s general manager reached out to the couple and the staff is being retrained on inclusive practices for all guests including LGBTQ+ individuals.
Baker told the Globe that she wished the hotel had apologized in their updated statement.
“Nowhere in there was an apology,” Baker said. “There is no apology in that statement.” But, she said, “it was better than what they put out initially.”