Traverse city hair salon lgbtq
Michigan city investigates salon owner's online comments about gender identity
A northern Michigan city is searching after a local hair salon owner posted on social media that anyone identifying as other than a man or a woman is not welcome at her business.
Christine Geiger's online posts have drawn criticism from Traverse City's mayor and other officials, who said they were looking into whether she was violating a municipal anti-discrimination ordinance.
Demonstrators chanted and carried signs Wednesday outside the business, Studio 8 Hair Lab — Teaching & Beauty Supply.
In an Associated Press interview, Geiger stood by her posts and said small business owners should be free to serve whomever they wish.
“I just don’t crave the woke dollar. ... I’d rather not be as busy than to have to do services that I don’t consent with.”
A post last weekend on the salon’s Facebook page, which is no longer available, read, “If a human 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 seek to have a particular pronoun used please observe we may simply point to to you as ‘hey you.’”
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Dozens protest Traverse Town salon for refusing to serve members of the LGBTQ+ community
Over 80 people marched in downtown Traverse City last Wednesday night in protest of a local hair salon that said it’ll reject service to some customers of the LGBTQ+ community.
"If a human identifies as anything other than a man / woman please seek services at a local pet groomer. You are not welcome at this salon. Period.”
That’s what Christine Geiger, owner of Studio 8 Hair Lab, wrote on the company’s Facebook page.
The protest was organized by a team of concerned citizens calling themselves the TC Batmans. Aaron Wright is a part of the group.
“I just want the members of our community who maybe haven't found that joy yet or haven't seen it in their life and maybe experience it in their heart, I want them to see that there's so, so, so much more of that than one-off comment on Facebook,” Wright said.
The refusal of service comes weeks after the U-S Supreme Court dictated in favor of a Colorado web designer to refuse services for queer couples.
(CBS DETROIT) - The Michigan Department of Civil Rights filed charges against a hair salon in Traverse City over social media posts that stated the salon would not service LGBTQ clients.
The department argued Wednesday the social media posts are a violation of the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
"Studio 8 violated the law by denying their services to specific individuals based on sex," said John Johnson Jr., executive director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. "In this case, the respondent made sure that people in her community and beyond knew her position by publishing comments on social media. Spelling out the people she would oppose to serve and why."
The department says Studio 8 had 21 complaints filed against them since July 2023. The complaints stemmed from the salon posting that if a person identifies "as anything other than a man/woman please seek services at a local pet groomer."
The current formal case of discrimination is based on three of those 21 complaints.
"Our perspective on bringing the discrimination case against the salon is this; we have to enforce the laws of our mention, right? And that's what the Department of Civi
Michigan charges Traverse City hair salon with discrimination
Michigan's Department of Civil Rights has charged a Traverse Town hair salon with discrimination.
The Studio 8 Hair Lab drew national attention last summer when the owner, Christine Geiger, posted messages on Facebook saying that trans and homosexual people were not welcome, telling them to instead spot a "pet groomer."
LGBTQ+ groups, elected officials and others in the community condemned the posts, with many calling the message dehumanizing. Michigan’s Department of Civil Rights said 21 people have filed complaints since last July.
“This is not a complicated case,” said the department’s executive director, John Johnson, Jr., during a press conference Wednesday. “The regulation makes it exceptionally clear that it is a violation of civil rights law.”
The state is including three of the complaints in its charges. Johnson said that as a business owner, Geiger failed to fulfill her legal responsibilities to the public.
“If your sexual orientation, gender culture or expression was not on her list of what was acceptable, you could seek out the services — in her words — of a dog groomer,” he said.
Geiger is suing Traverse Cit
Discrimination charge filed against Michigan salon after owner’s comments about gender identity
LANSING, Mich. — A hair salon in northern Michigan is facing a discrimination ask for from the state’s Department of Civil Rights after its owner posted on social media earlier this year that anyone identifying as other than a man or a woman is not welcome at her business.
The department claims in the ask for filed Wednesday that Traverse City’s Studio 8 Hair Lab violated the state’s civil rights perform in a Facebook post in July from its owner, Christine Geiger, by unlawfully discriminating against three claimants.
The post, which is no longer on hand, read, “If a human 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 seek to have a particular pronoun used please note we may simply point to to you as ‘hey you.’”
A hearing will now be scheduled before an administrative law decide, who will issue a recommendation after hearing the merits of the complaint, according to the civil rights department. The recommendation will then go before Michigan’s Civil Rights Commission to either adopt or mak