Protesters clashed outside a spa in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles after a recent customer posted an online video of herself ridiculing staff for allowing a transgender woman to change in the women's changing area.
The viral video, posted in late June, was taken by a woman who apparently opposed the existence of transgender people altogether.
She attacked the employee behind the front desk at Wi Spa, claiming she and other cisgender women—even though she was alone—were "highly offended" by the transgender woman's presence in the facilities.
When the staff attempted to tell the woman why they allow transgender customers—it's the law in California—to use the facilities that align with their gender identity, the woman refused to listen.
"I see a di**. It let's me know he's a man. He's a man."
Later, when a bystander attempted to intervene in defense of the transgender customer, the woman shot it down immediately, saying, "there is no such thing as transgender."
When the video was posted on Twitter by a fellow bigot with his own transphobic commentary, it quickly went viral.
The widely seen video, which was even praised by Fox News' Tucker Carlson, galvanized far-right, anti-LGBTQ people to gather outside the spa for a protest a few days later.
But when LGBTQ-supporting folks heard about that, they came out to counter protest.
That's when things got very heated, as another video captured.
According to NBC News, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Frank Lopez shared that the protest event was deemed an unlawful assembly.
One person sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a nearby medical facility. People who saw reports of the clashes were filled with commentary.
Mainly, they were critical of how it all began.
Time will tell if any further developments ensue outside the spa.
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