Female bartender convicted of hate crime for shoving trans woman in bathroom dispute

An Oregon jury convicted an off-duty bartender of a hate crime for misgendering and shoving a transgender customer who had used the women's bathroom.

After a two-day trial last week, jurors found Cassie McIntyre guilty of second-degree bias crime and harassment charges for the December 2022 confrontation, which was caught on surveillance video at a Portland bar.

A Portland bartender was convicted of second-degree bias crime and harassment charges for shoving a transgender woman in a dispute over which bathroom the victim should use. (Giulio Andreini/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Riis Larsen, a transgender woman, testified that she had just exited the single-user women's bathroom when McIntyre, who had just finished her shift at the bar, accosted her and said she should use the other restroom because she "was a man," The Oregonian reported.

Larsen said she tried to explain her gender identity, but that McIntyre swore at her and then shoved her. A surveillance camera captured the shove, but did not record any audio.

Another customer testified that he heard McIntyre repeatedly use male pronouns for Larsen.

"I wasn’t trying to misgender her — I had to look up what transgender was in the dictionary," McIntyre said in court, The Oregonian reported. "We were just arguing over spilt milk."

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McIntyre testified that Larsen cut in line for the bathroom and pushed another customer. Larsen denied pushing anyone else. McIntyre claimed she only pushed Larsen as a way of "making space," according to the newspaper.

Larsen described crying while leaving the bar and later calling police.

"In our system, people are innocent until they’re proven guilty," Larsen said, according to The Oregonian. "But in the real world I was judged and sentenced within moments when Ms. McIntyre decided to harass me."

Gender identity was cited as the motivation for about 4% of Oregon bias crimes in 2022, according to data from the Department of Justice.

The judge sentenced McIntyre to two years of probation and 50 hours of community service, which McIntyre's attorney said she hopes to complete at an LGBTQ nonprofit.

Oregon, particularly Portland, has been seen as a refuge for transgender people leaving conservative states. Nearly 8% of adults in the progressive state identify as LGBTQ. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

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Oregon has more LGBTQ residents per capita than any other state, according to a recent report from The Williams Institute at the University of California.

The state, especially Portland, has become a haven for transgender people fleeing conservative states in recent years, according to local media reports.