A Conservative councillor has said she was shocked after a trans woman made a “threatening” remark in the toilets of a London pub.
Ruby Sampson, 22, said the incident unfolded as she washed her hands at the Marquis of Granby, in Westminster, on a Wednesday evening this month.
She began having a “friendly chat” with a “6ft tall” woman as she stood directly behind her while waiting to use the wash basin.
I am speaking out on my platform for all women everywhere.
— Cllr Ruby Sampson (@RubySampson18) February 25, 2023
We are told not to walk home from a night out alone & soon we’ll be telling our friends don’t go to the bathroom alone.
@KemiBadenoch @RosieDuffield1https://t.co/bcS4tr5pBj https://t.co/bcS4tr5pBj
Writing for MailOnline, Ms Sampson wrote: “I can’t deny I was a bit shocked. Yet there was a sense of novelty. What would she be like? Well, we had quite a nice chat, not exactly girlie, but friendly.
“I thought, ‘This is going well, I’m handling the situation fine.’ I didn’t treat her any differently. Why would I? We spoke about the paucity of loo paper, the dreadful taps and temperamental hand dryer.”
However, Ms Sampson said the situation took a grim turn just before the woman left the room.
“It was as she moved to the door to leave that it happened. I remarked that we had no choice but to awkwardly shake our hands dry, and she turned to me and replied: ‘I’m going to wipe my hands on my penis.’ With that, she disappeared.
“Until this, our conversation had been quite positive and pleasant.
“Now I was frozen to the spot in shock. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a threat of sorts.”
Ms Sampson, who represents Cockfosters, says she no longer feels safe going into female toilets alone.
She is calling for “greater protection of women’s spaces” and said there should ideally be “men’s spaces, women’s spaces and a gender-neutral spaces”.
It comes as trans women offenders who commit violent or sex crimes will be barred from being locked up with female inmates by new rules that come into force tomorrow.
The Government says it is "restoring common sense to prison safety".
The rules will apply regardless of whether an offender has a gender recognition certificate.
Exemptions will only be made in the "most exceptional cases" and require ministerial sign-off.
