transgender man who says a campground owner told him to use the women's bathroom on the site says he was beaten up by a group of men and arrested after a dispute with other guests over his presence there.
Noah Ruiz, who still has female body parts but identifies as a man, had tried to use the ladies' room at the campground in Preble County, Ohio, but a woman using the bathroom became upset he was in there because he is a man.
The 20-year-old told local news channel Fox 19: "I was using the bathroom, and she just started shouting. She was like, 'Who the f*** is in here?' And I replied, 'I am.' My girlfriend replied, 'I am as well.' She was like, 'No man should be in this bathroom. If you're a man you need to use a man's bathroom.' And I was like, 'I'm transgender. I have woman body parts, and I was told to use this bathroom.'"
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Ruiz said that as he walked out of the restroom on July 3 following the argument with the woman in there, three men approached and attacked him: "They, like, grabbed me up off the ground. They choked me out. They said, 'I'll kill you, you f***, doing all this.' And I said, 'Dude, I'm not; I'm using the right bathroom. Rick Cross, the owner of this establishment, told me to use the bathroom. I'm following the rules."
After the alleged physical assault, the dispute continued to escalate with more campers arriving at the scene, police said. Preble County Sheriff Michael Simpson said: "When they arrived, deputies weren't aware of an assault. There was a large crowd gathering and Ruiz was highly intoxicated and was becoming belligerent."
Ruiz's mother, Jennifer Ruiz, told Fox 19 that her son had "got out of hand" by this point, but only because "no one was listening to him." Ruiz himself appeared to nod as his mother said he acknowledged he could have handled the situation differently at that point.
Deputies arrested Ruiz for disorderly conduct and obstructing official business. They did not know about the alleged assault that had previously occurred, the sheriff said, but Ruiz later filed an assault report. The sheriff's office said their investigation is continuing and they are looking for the men involved.
Transgender and gender-nonbinary teens face greater risk of sexual assault in schools that prevent them from using bathrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity, according to a recent study.
Researchers looked at data from a survey of nearly 3,700 U.S. teens aged 13-17. The study found that 36% of transgender or gender-nonbinary students with restricted bathroom or locker room access reported being sexually assaulted in the last 12 months, according to a May 6, 2019 CNN article. Of all students surveyed, 1 out of every 4, or 25.9%, reported being a victim of sexual assault in the past year.