Transgender Man Says Group Beat Him Up Over His Bathroom Use At A Campground

A transgender man who lives in Oxford claims he was assaulted and battered while he was camping because of his gender identity. The 20-year-old Noah Ruiz was assigned a female gender at birth but identifies as a man, reports Fox19.

He claims that a group of males rushed after him when he was using the women’s facility in a campsite in Preble County, which was the advise that was given to him. “I have bruises on the back of my head from being punched in the back of the head,” Ruiz said..

Ruiz claims that the incident took place on July 3 at Cross’s Campground in Camden. He was just about to leave the room when he saw a lady in one of the stalls become very distraught.

“I was using the bathroom, and she just started shouting. She was like, ‘Who the [expletive] is in here?’ And I replied, ‘I am.’ My girlfriend replied, ‘I am as well.’ She was like, ‘No man should be in this bathroom. Like, if you’re a man you need to use a man’s bathroom.’ And I was like, ‘I’m transgender. Like, I have woman body parts, and I was told to use this bathroom,’” Ruiz recalled.

He claims that while he was leaving, three very large males approached him. In addition to the bruises, he emerged from the ordeal with a number of wounds and gashes scattered throughout his body.

“They, like, grabbed me up off the ground. They choked me out. They said, ‘I’ll kill you, you [expletive] doing all this.’ And I said, ‘Dude, I’m not, I’m using the right bathroom. Rick Cross, the owner of this establishment, told me to use the bathroom. I’m following the rules,’” Ruiz explained.

Eventually, officials from the Preble County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene and placed Ruiz under arrest for disorderly behavior and impeding government business. According to Preble County Sheriff Michael Simpson, the officers weren’t originally aware of the assault, that a huge crowd had formed, that Ruiz was obviously inebriated, and that he was getting confrontational.

“Noah was so upset at the time, he was trying to explain what has happened, and no one was listening to him. So Noah did then get out of hand, and he admits to his part of getting out of hand, from screaming, yelling. He was in defense mode, and when police got there, they didn’t listen to him. They just immediately started shoving him to the ground and doing what they needed to do,” said Ruiz’s mother, Jennifer Ruiz.

After Ruiz was taken into custody, the victim was able to submit a complaint of assault with the local sheriff’s office. He has expressed his desire for the guys to be held responsible for their actions. Jennifer claims that the males made homophobic comments to Ruiz on many occasions during the altercation.

“I feel like something does need to be done to the people who hit him, and the police need to take charges against them for hitting him,” Jennifer said. “That’s not safety, and I worry for the other ones that are there. If we don’t do something about it, who is going to do something about it?” Jennifer added.