www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42923.htm
Reprint April 18, 2005 -- When Semaj Bogan sauntered out of the ladies' room at t he mall recently, an angry woman got right in her face. It wasn't the first time that Bogan, 19, has been asked that. She was born a man but considers herself a woman and, according to the Ci ty Commission on Human Rights, she can use whichever restroom she please s The commission, in a recent action, essentially allowed people to define their own gender. That didn't sit well with some New York women when The Post accompanied t he masculine-looking Bogan to public restrooms to gauge the consequences of the ruling. Bogan has male sex organs and does not intend to get a sex change, or "th e chop," as it's called in the transgender community. "That sexual harassment made me really angry," a visibly upset Bogan conf essed after the ranting woman had left. Until recently, the New Orleans native and aspiring entrepreneur, who now lives in Manhattan, was dressing every day as a woman, but stopped beca use she feared for her safety and because her religious parents disappro ved. Still, Bogan whose first name, Semaj, is James spelled backward uses publ ic ladies' rooms 90 percent of the time. The issue has come to the fore since the commission found on April 1 that workers for Advantage Security in separate incidents at the Manhattan M all and an office building discriminated against two transgender women b y questioning them before letting them use the ladies' room. A security guard at the Manhattan Mall said employees recently received a memo ordering them to let customers use whichever restroom they want. Bogan was the subject of some long stares, dirty looks and muttered comme nts when she used the women's bathroom. The bathroom janitor's jaw dropped when she caught sight of Bogan, and fe llow restroom user Tracy Jones couldn't believe her eyes. "I thought it was a dude in the women's room," said Jones, 34. But when questioned, many said Bogan's presence was fine with them. "If he identifies himself as a woman, he should go in the ladies' room," said shopper Karen Teague, 49. Lejle Vukic, 17, a girl, put it this way: "Everyone should just do what t hey need to do."
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