Buffalo Wild Wings worker made high schooler ‘prove’ she’s a girl, activists say

An 18-year-old high schooler was forced by a Buffalo Wild Wings worker to “prove” she is a girl inside the women’s restroom of the Minnesota restaurant, according to a non-profit.

Gender Justice, a nonprofit organization that focuses on gender equity law, has now filed a discrimination charge with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on behalf of Gerika Mudra.

“What happened to Gerika Mudra was not just wrong, it was unlawful,” Sara Jan Baldwin, senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, said in a statement.

Mudra was at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Owatonna on Easter when she was followed into the restroom by a server, according to Gender Justice. The employee banged on her stall door and told Mudra she had to “prove” she was a girl.

The nonprofit said the worker blocked the exit and made Mudra unzip her hoodie to show she had breasts. Mudra complied in an encounter that left her mortified.

Mudra is not transgender but said the incident is not the first encounter she has had over her gender. This one, however, was the worst, she said.

“She made me feel very uncomfortable,” Mudra said. “After that, I just don’t like going in public bathrooms. I just hold it in.”

McClatchy News reached out to Buffalo Wild Wings on Aug. 13 and was awaiting a response.

Shauna Otterness, Mudra’s stepmother, said in a news release she believes her stepdaughter was “targeted because of how she looks.”

But in Minnesota, it is illegal for public accomodations to discriminate on the basis of “gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, sex, or race.”

Megan Peterson, executive director at Gender Justice, said the incident involving Mudra is “nothing new.”

“And yet, in our current climate we have to ask: What if Gerika had been a trans person?” Peterson said. “Would this story have ended differently? That’s the terrifying reality too many trans people live with every day.”

Gender Justice said Mudra’s experience from Buffalo Wild Wings is one that transgender and gender-nonconforming people deal with often.

“I want people to know they’re not alone. They’re not the only people this happens to,” Mudra said. “It’s OK to stick up for yourselves and be who you are.