An ID scanner for a restroom? Room for a little privacy, please. A Delaware bar has been fined $15,000 after the state found that it discriminated against a transgender woman over which bathroom she could use, according to Delaware Online.
Hideout Arcade Bar & Grille near Rehoboth Beach and its owner, Bryan Derrickson, have been found by the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission to have violated the state’s Equal Accommodations Law for the second time in a case involving transgender discrimination. And yes, the restroom was at the center of it.
What Happened at the Bar?
According to the commission’s order, Sorber was confronted while attempting to use the women’s restroom and was required to show her identification again. She was then told she could only use the men’s bathroom. Sorber later complained about the experience on social media. According to her complaint, she was subsequently banned from the establishment entirely after attempting to enter the bar again.
Representatives for Hideout said its restroom policy relied on the gender designation appearing on a patron’s state ID. Sorber’s state identification still listed the gender assigned to her at birth. The commission, however, noted that Sorber had been living as a transgender woman since 2018.
“She does not hide her female gender identity and is proud of it,” the commission’s order states.
The commission ultimately found Hideout and Derrickson responsible for discrimination against Sorber.
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This Wasn’t the First Time
Here’s where the story gets even more complicated. Hideout had already faced a transgender discrimination case involving another trans woman, Kathy Carpenter Brown.
In 2023, Carpenter Brown was prevented from entering the bar after she declined to have her ID scanned as part of the establishment’s system for determining restroom access. The bar was subsequently fined $2,000. Employees were also required to complete anti-discrimination and equal-accommodations training. Carpenter Brown is the founder of TransLiance, an LGBTQ advocacy group in Delaware.
The two cases involve different complaints, but both center on Hideout’s use of identification in connection with restroom access.
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Room for Change?
The latest penalty is considerably larger than the previous $2,000 fine, making the July 2026 ruling the second time Hideout has faced a state penalty involving transgender discrimination.
For LGBTQ+ patrons, the issue goes beyond a restroom door. A routine trip to the restroom can become an uncomfortable confrontation when someone’s gender identity is treated as something that must be verified before they can enter.
And in this case, the question was not simply whether an ID could be scanned. It was whether a person’s gender identity should be determined by what appears on that ID.
The commission’s ruling answered that question with a $15,000 penalty.
For Hideout, it also means the bar has now faced two transgender discrimination cases tied to its restroom-access policy. After the first $2,000 fine, there was already a lesson to learn. Now the price of that lesson is a hefty $15,000.