Transwoman Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Iowa Hotel After Claim She Was a Sex Worker

In July, Meagan Taylor checked into the Des Moines, Iowa, Drury Inn hotel to rest overnight as she traveled with a friend from Illinois to Kansas City, Missouri for a funeral.

During her stay, Taylor says hotel workers harassed her, misgendered her, and reported to the police that “two men dressed as women” were sex workers.
Although police found no evidence of sex work, they did arrest Taylor for possessing hormone medication with a prescription. She spent eight days in Polk County Jail where she was repeatedly strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement.

Taylor is now filing a civil rights suit against the hotel for transphobic harassment, The Advocate reports.

Chase Strangio, an attorney for the ACLU’s LGBT & AIDS Project, made gave this statement to The Advocate:

“By calling the police, hotel staff literally brought the criminal justice system to Meagan’s door where she was subjected to frightening conditions in police custody, forced to undergo illegal searches and remain alone in a medical unit for eight days. The fact that hotel staff picked up the phone to report prostitution because ‘two men dressed as women’ checked into the hotel is a terrifying testament to the levels of discrimination that trans people of color face in this country."

View her story below.

Photo: ACLU