A transgender man says he was harassed, surrounded by security and threatened with arrest after using the restroom he felt safest in at the Round1 arcade bar inside North Riverside Park Mall.
Lucien Bates, who lives in Indiana, said the Sept. 28 incident left him shaken and humiliated after multiple security guards and managers confronted him inside and outside the restroom, accusing him of being in the “wrong” bathroom and “dangerous to children.”
“They ruined my whole day,” said Bates, who frequented the Round1 at 7503 Cermak Road in North Riverside to play its Dance Dance Revolution arcade games.
“They ruined a place that I liked, and they had enough people who wouldn’t say anything to get away with what they did,” Bates said.
In an emailed statement, a representative for Round1 said the company is “taking this matter very seriously, and that appropriate corrective measures have been taken.”
“Round1 does not tolerate discrimination of any kind—whether by or toward employees, guests, or third parties (such as security, vendors, or contractors),” the spokesperson said. “This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on race, color, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, identity, religion, age or disability.”
Bates and his fiancé had just arrived at Round1 and made a stop in the restroom before gaming. He decided to use the women’s restroom—a choice he said he often makes when he’s out in public because he typically feels safer there and is less likely to be harassed.
“I typically feel safer in the women’s restroom, which I guess kind of bit me in the butt this time,” he said.
Before entering, he said he even checked in with his fiancé and a friend to make sure they were comfortable accompanying him.
“It’s an experience to have to take my friends to the bathroom, because stuff like this does happen, and it’s something that we have to think about often—making that decision about which one to go in, which one’s going to be safer,” Bates said.
A few minutes later, a female security guard entered the restroom and told Bates, “You know you can’t be in here, right?”
Bates said she refused to clarify what she meant, instead repeating that he was “not supposed to be in there.”
“Eventually it got to the point where she was like, ‘You need to be in the bathroom that matches your ID,’” Bates said. He refused to show his ID, noting that his fiancé did show his own, which matched the restroom they were in.
The guard then called for backup, Bates said, and three more security guards entered.
“They just kept saying, ‘You should know what you’re doing wrong,’ but they wouldn’t say it outright,” he recalled. “Eventually they said it was dangerous for us to be in the restroom because children visit the facility.”
Bates decided to leave, but when he stepped out of the restroom, he said he found even more security guards waiting outside.
One of the guards “started just screaming in my face,” Bates said. “He just kept saying, ‘You’re going to get arrested,’ but wouldn’t tell me why. I was already on my way out, and now they’re threatening to arrest me—for what exactly?”
Outside, Bates said he and his fiancé started to leave but decided to go back to ask for a manager’s contact information to file a complaint. When they re-entered, a man immediately yelled, “What do you guys want? You have to be out of here.”
Bates started recording a video as they were escorted back outside. When the manager finally came out, Bates said she told him the issue was “loitering.”
“That’s interesting, because I have not heard the word ‘loitering’ from anyone on your staff until right now,” he said.
He told her the situation was “dehumanizing,” but said she only responded, “Sorry this happened.”
As Bates and his fiancé sat in their car afterward, he said security staff stayed outside, watching them and driving past several times.
“Every security guard was smiling and waving cheerfully as we were leaving,” he said.
Bates later filed complaints with both Round1 and the mall, and said a manager offered to comp money onto his arcade card.
“It’s scary to think about what would have happened had just one of us gone in by ourselves and had four security guards in the bathroom with us,” Bates said.
He said the experience left him anxious about using public restrooms and hesitant to return to one of his favorite hangout spots. He shared his story on social media to warn others.
“Someone got comfortable enough in their workplace that they thought this was appropriate, and enough people felt comfortable letting it happen that it did happen,” Bates added. “The security is supposed to be there to protect me, and instead, they chased someone out of their facility for using a bathroom.”