CITY INVESTIGATES COMPLAINTS: Local salon's transgender stance prompts backlash

Jul. 12—TRAVERSE CITY — A group of about 100 protesters circled the block outside of a hair salon on Traverse City's Eighth Street that drew backlash after claiming it wouldn't serve transgender or gender nonconforming customers.

With many carrying signs showing support for transgender and gender-queer people, the march streamed from a starting point in the Civic Center and walked along Eighth Street just west of Garfield Avenue. Another tenant in the same building as Studio 8, the salon that made the declaration, smiled and watched. The group chanted various slogans, including a call-and-response aimed at what many called transphobic remarks by Studio 8's owner.

"Trans rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!"

Organizers Maddie Harris and Flower Apley said they wanted to create something positive out of a traumatic experience. What started a few days ago on a Facebook group they called TC Batmans snowballed into 150 RSVPs to come out, make signs, march and then dance. The turnout despite light sprinkles had Harris, Apley and fellow organizer Aaron Wright feeling the love and support of the community.

"It takes someone two minutes to make a hateful Facebook post or say something mean to somebody, but look at this, it took almost two days to get almost 100 people together to say, 'No, that kind of speech is not tolerated in this community," Wright said.

Behind the outcry were comments Studio 8 Hair Lab posted on its Facebook page Saturday that if someone identifies "as anything other than a man/woman please seek services at a local pet groomer. You are not welcome at this salon. Period."

"Should you request to have a particular pronoun used please note we may simply refer to you as 'Hey you,' " the post read.

In a local Facebook group, the salon's owner, Christine Geiger, commented on a post about the controversy, claiming she took no issue with lesbian, gay and bisexual patrons, and defended the decision as being for her clients' "best experience" and her unwillingness to "play the pronoun game or cater to requests outside of what I perceive as normal."

At her salon Wednesday, Geiger said she had spoken to the Associated Press and declined to comment to the Record-Eagle before asking a reporter to leave.

Many local organizations condemned Geiger's post.

Polestar LGBT+ Community Center of Traverse City said via social media that the salon's comments comparing members of the queer community to animals are not welcome in Traverse City.

"Hate has shown, time and time again, to be a losing business strategy and we must not allow this blight to take root in our town," the statement reads. "Statements like the one from Studio 8 undermine the hard work that has been put in to make Traverse City the absolute best that it can be."

Hair products maker Jack Winn Pro denounced the remarks on its Facebook page and said Geiger is no longer authorized to represent the brand or products.

Within days of her original post, Geiger deleted her salon's public Facebook page and set its Instagram account to private with the bio, "A private CONSERVATIVE business that does not cater to woke ideologies."

The account had one follower as of Wednesday.

State Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, was the first elected official to publicly denounce the post.

"To compare our LGBTQ+ neighbors to animals ... is breathtaking hate and bigotry from a studio in my community. It is also dangerous because it dehumanizes fellow Michiganders at a time when violence against LGBTQ+ residents simply for who they are, is already on the rise," Coffia said in her statement.

The post appeared to reference a bill just passed out of the state House of Representatives that would define hate crimes as violent, injury-causing, intimidating or destructive behaviors based on the victim's actual or perceived characteristics, including gender identity. That bill, HB 4474, is currently in the state Senate's Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, legislative records show.

Coffia noted the hate crimes bill has been repeatedly mischaracterized and wouldn't criminalize calling someone the wrong pronoun.

The Studio 8 post's author stated they have the right to refuse service and are "not bound to any oaths as realtors are regarding discrimination."

However, denying service to someone based on gender identity may violate state and local laws. Traverse City has an anti-discrimination ordinance that bars businesses and other places of public accommodation from denying services to someone because of their gender identity, among other traits.

In March, state lawmakers amended the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prevent discrimination at public accommodations based on gender identity or expression. That law also applies to real estate agents.

Interim City Manager Nate Geinzer said he's investigating some complaints about the post. Geinzer said Wednesday he's in the midst of due diligence on the complaints.

Under the city's ordinance, a city manager must investigate and can either seek a conciliatory agreement or ask the city attorney to seek an injunction to stop the discrimination, or file a lawsuit.

Mayor Richard Lewis in a statement called it "disheartening" to hear of any discriminatory behavior in the region.

"As a community, we are responsible to take care of one another and speak up for one another," Lewis said. "The city of Traverse City has valued itself on providing a safe environment for all people."

Mayor Pro Tem Amy Shamroe, who attended the sign-making, said Geiger's remarks do not reflect the values of Traverse City residents, noting the anti-discrimination ordinance was adopted with a nearly 2-to-1 margin in its favor when it was on the ballot in 2011.

The state attorney general's office reacted to the post as well.

"At the department we have received several complaints pertaining to the bigotry exhibited by the salon proprietor in Traverse City, and the attorney general finds the comments to be hateful, reprehensible remarks that seek only to marginalize a community already suffering from discriminatory animus in Michigan and elsewhere," department spokesman Danny Wimmer said in an email.

Any litigation brought under state law shouldn't be affected by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Wimmer said.

In 303 Creative vs. Elenis, the majority ruled that a Colorado woman didn't have to make websites for same-sex marriages and that a state anti-discrimination law amounted to compelling speech, a First Amendment violation.

After the march, Jen Mahaffy said she attended because she's part of the LGBTQ community, as are the people she loves the most. Being able to come out and support them while denying hate a space in Traverse City gave her a good feeling.

"The more we stand up and denounce this, the more the people will feel included," she said.

That ruling wasn't a "blanket invitation to discriminate" because it doesn't affect provisions that don't apply to speech in laws like Michigan's, Wimmer said.

"Thus, it does not threaten the entirety of the recent progress made in Michigan in enacting these protections," he said.

People who believe they've been discriminated against under state law can file a complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. The department investigates the complaints and seeks settlements between the various parties but doesn't take court action.

Harold Core, the department's director of special projects, said it received eight contacts requesting an investigation of the salon as of Wednesday. He declined to comment further since it's a potential or pending investigation.

Whether Traverse City's ordinance holds up in light of the Supreme Court ruling remains to be seen, city Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht said. Geinzer noted it'll also be one of — if not the — first time the ordinance has been applied since its passage in 2010.