Mom took her autistic son into movie theater bathroom. Then cops were called, suit says
Christine Gallinaro and her 15-year-old son loved visiting their local New Jersey movie theater.
It was one of her son’s favorite places to visit — until a manager forced them to leave the Cinemark in Hazlet on June 16, a Friday evening that resulted in the police getting called to remove them, according to a new lawsuit.
While sitting and watching Disney and Pixar’s animated film ”Elemental,” Gallinaro’s son, who is autistic and has speech delays, needed to use the bathroom, a complaint filed July 25 in the Superior Court of Monmouth County says.
Gallinaro brought him into the women’s restroom with her, as he cannot use public bathrooms alone, according to the complaint.
As they were leaving the restroom, the complaint says a Cinemark Hazlet 12 manager “angrily approached them and shouted blatantly discriminatory remarks” toward them.
“He (referring Gallinaro’s son) shouldn’t be in here (referring to the women’s restroom),” the manager is accused of saying in the theater’s lobby full of moviegoers, according to the complaint.
She’s also accused of saying that a “‘grown’ man should not be in the women’s restroom” as the restroom is “not a transgender bathroom” and ordered an assistant manager to call the police, according to the complaint.
Now Gallinaro is suing Cinemark Hazlet 12, Cinemark USA, the manager, assistant manager and additional defendants not named in the complaint, accusing them of discriminating against her son based on his disability.
McClatchy News contacted Cinemark for comment on July 27 and was awaiting a response.
“My son was humiliated and harassed for going to the bathroom,” Gallinaro told McClatchy News in a statement.
“I am my son’s voice, protector and advocate…I felt compelled to go public with this for my community of parents and their autistic children or adult children.”
The police arrive at the theater
After the assistant manager called the police upon his manager’s direction, he told Gallinaro he “didn’t agree with what (the manager) did,” the complaint says.
However, he said Gallinaro should leave because she was “causing a disturbance,” according to a video Gallinaro recorded that was provided to McClatchy News by her attorney, Austin B. Tobin, of McOmber McOmber & Luber law firm.
While waiting for police to arrive, the theater’s security and the assistant manager surrounded Gallinaro and her son “in a hostile and confrontational demeanor,” the complaint says.
In another video provided to McClatchy News, Gallinaro speaks with a police officer in the theater’s lobby, explaining how her son is autistic and she wouldn’t let him go into the men’s bathroom alone.
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” the officer is heard saying, the video shows.
The incident has left Gallinaro’s son feeling traumatized, and she’s noticed some behavioral changes in him, according to the complaint.
“Other than asking (Gallinaro and her son) to leave, and then later offering free movie tickets after they could not process a refund for the already purchased movie tickets, defendants took zero action to address (their) transparently harassing and discriminatory conduct,” the complaint says.
Now, Gallinaro’s son repeatedly apologizes for what happened at the theater on June 16, refuses to use the bathroom alone at home and has trouble sleeping, the complaint says.
“What happened is outrageous and appalling,” Gallinaro told McClatchy News.
“There needs to be family bathrooms installed in these locations and robust sensitivity training immediately…All people including the disabled have a right to go to a public bathroom with dignity and respect with safety for all remaining a top priority.”
Gallinaro’s lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by engaging in disparate treatment of her son, creating a hostile environment and discriminating against him, the complaint says.
The lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks to recover compensatory damages, consequential damages, punitive damages and more.
“Any individual, let alone a disabled child, has the right to use the bathroom in a public place such as a movie theater,” Tobin told McClatchy News in a statement. “What happened that day was outrageous, discriminatory, and completely unlawful, and Defendants must be held accountable for what happened.”
Hazlet is about 45 miles southwest of Manhattan in New York City.
Police department pulls job offer after learning applicant is transgender, lawsuit says
Walmart fires worker over how his seizures caused him to miss work in NC, lawsuit says
McDonald’s fires man who worked there 37 years because he has autism, lawsuit says
