The Hideout Arcade Bar & Grille has been fined $15,000 after it was determined the business violated antidiscrimination law. The owner has vowed to appeal.

The Delaware Human & Civil Rights Commission, in a July majority decision, found the Midway-area restaurant violated the Delaware Equal Accommodations Law aka DEAL, when it denied a transgender woman access to the women’s bathroom.

According to the complaint filed by Kaitie Sorber, she was confronted and asked to display her identification before being told she could only use the men’s bathroom while patronizing the restaurant April 5, 2023. When she returned a week later, she was denied entrance and was told she had been banned because she posted about the bathroom policy on social media.

She later spoke to owner Bryan Derrickson, who allegedly told her because her license identified her as male, she should use the bathroom that matches her license.

Sorber’s birth name is Mason, which also appears on Sorber’s driver’s license. Sorber said she’s been injecting hormones since 2018 and, as a result, has developed female body characteristics. She expresses herself as a female in her physical appearance.

At the evidentiary hearing, Sorber acknowledged awareness of Delaware’s procedure to legally change gender designation on a license, but has not yet completed the steps required by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles.

Derrickson testified the Hideout’s bathroom policy changed after an unidentified woman complained about Sorber about a week prior to the April 5 incident. Derrickson said a mother and an 8-year-old girl walked out of the women’s bathroom complaining there was a biological male in the bathroom. Derrickson also cited other factors such as concerns about safety and claims about conflicting state law.

Derrickson said he developed the new policy by applying an approach similar to how the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission ensures bars only serve to over-21 patrons. He said a license scanner is how that’s achieved, and he could apply the same method to bathroom policy – if someone is male or female on their license, they may use the corresponding bathroom.

The commission determined Derrickson and The Hideout violated Section 4503 of DEAL, which states all persons are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, facilities, advantages and privileges of any place of public accommodation regardless of certain protected characteristics, including gender identity.

The commission noted the law does not require proof that actions taken against Sorber were motivated by hostility, ill will or hatred toward her or transgender people. Discriminatory intent means intentionally treating someone different because of a protected characteristic, regardless of motive, the commission stated.

“Mr. Derrickson’s motive to keep all his customers happy does not negate discriminatory intent either,” the commission says. “A desire to placate customers cannot justify illegal actions in a place of public accommodation, and customer preference is not a valid defense to intentional discrimination under the law.”

Derrickson argued ambiguities in Delaware law left him and his business to rely on the gender printed on Sorber’s driver’s license to determine which bathroom was appropriate.

The commission, on the other hand, says DEAL unambiguously instructs that gender identity is determined by a person’s appearance, expression and behavior.

During the hearing, Derrickson said about 200 people have been banned from the Hideout and other businesses he owns. He said many of those are for engaging in name calling and using slurs, including some related to gender identity.

The commission said Section 4504 of DEAL protects against retaliation based on protected activities.

As a result of the commission’s order, Hideout and Derrickson must pay $10,000 in damages to Sorber within 120 days. They must also pay a $5,000 civil penalty to the Special Administration Fund. The order also requires full- and part-time employees and independent contractors undergo training the area of antidiscrimination and equal accommodations laws by a training provider acceptable to the Division of Human and Civil Rights within six months. The Hideout and Derrickson must remove Sorber from their list of banned patrons and revise the bathroom policy so it does not conflict with or violate provisions of equal accommodations law.

In a comment to another media outlet, Derrickson said he plans to appeal the decision.