Movie theater manager calls police on woman for taking autistic son into the women’s room

A New Jersey mother is suing a movie theater after its management called the police to remove her and her autistic son for using the women’s bathroom. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of Monmouth County on Tuesday, alleges that the theater’s manager shouted discriminatory and anti-transgender remarks at Christine Gallinaro and her son.

According to NJ.com, Gallinaro took her 15-year-old son to see a June 16 screening of Disney’s Elemental at the Showtimes at Cinemark Hazlet 12 theater in Hazlet, New Jersey. Gallinaro’s son, identified in the lawsuit as J.G., has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and has severe speech delays. As Gallinaro told NJ.com, “My son is not equipped to go into a men’s bathroom in a public setting alone.”

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Her son is on the autism spectrum, has a seizure disorder, and is nonverbal.

When J.G. needed to use the restroom during the screening, Gallinaro reportedly found that the theater had no family bathrooms. Uncomfortable taking her son into the men’s restroom, Gallinaro had no choice but to take her son with her into the women’s bathroom, according to the lawsuit.

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Gallinaro told NJ.com that other women in the restroom saw her with her son and appeared to understand why J.G. was there, noting that one woman smiled at her.

But as they were exiting the restroom, the theater’s manager, identified in the lawsuit as Nicole J. Nicolet, approached them “with an angry and hostile demeanor.” Despite Gallinaro’s attempts to explain that her son was disabled, Nicolet insisted that “he shouldn’t be in here” and that a “grown” man should not be in the women’s restroom. The lawsuit alleges that Nicolet also exclaimed in the theater’s crowded lobby that “this is not a transgender bathroom.”

Nicolet then told the theater’s assistant manager Brandon M. Mansueto to call the police, and the theater’s security guards surrounded Gallinaro and her son.

When police arrived, Gallinaro began recording the interaction with her phone. According to NJ.com, Mansueto can be heard on the recording saying that he disagreed with what Nicolet did, while also insisting that Gallinaro was “causing a disturbance” and insisting that she and her son leave the theater. A police officer can also be heard on the recording, reportedly telling Gallinaro that the theater is a private business and its employees can remove customers.

Gallinaro’s lawsuit accuses the theater, its corporate owners, Nicolet, and Mansueto of violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which includes protections against discrimination on the basis of disability.

In a statement, Galinaro’s lawyer R. Armen McOmber said that J.G. “was traumatized by blatantly discriminatory conduct on the part of defendants… simply because he needed to use the bathroom while seeing a movie with his mother.”

According to the lawsuit, J.G. “has exhibited extreme levels of emotional distress on a constant basis” since the incident. He has repeatedly apologized for what happened, refused to use that bathroom alone even at home, has experienced insomnia, and frequently mentions Nicolet.