Michigan hair salon refuses to serve transgender people, says go to the ‘pet groomer’ instead

Studio 8, a hair salon in Traverse City, Mich., announced in a now-deleted Facebook post last week that it will no longer be allowing transgender people in its store.

“If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman please seek services at a local pet groomer,” the store’s Facebook post read. “You are not welcome at this salon. Period.”

The post also rebukes House Bill 4474, a recent bill passed by the Michigan House of Representatives which seeks to expand the parameters of a hate crime and outlines punishments for threatening or harming people. The law has been misconstrued as fining people up to $10,000 for using the wrong pronoun to describe someone which is not included in the bill. The salon owner, Christine Geiger, taunted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to enforce it on the business via emojis and a profanity.

First reported by northern Michigan’s 9&10 News, Geiger complained about what she says is being “forced” to use preferred pronouns and argued that the “LGB part” of “LGBTQ+” should separate from the “TQ+” part. She also falsely claimed that the “+” is for pedophiles.

The Studio 8 post came days after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered an anti-LGBTQ decision for 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. The conservative majority sided 6-3 with a Colorado web designer who refused to make wedding websites for gay couples. However, some experts do not agree that this decision protect the Traverse City salon. This did not stop the Salon from citing free speech in its rant.

“This is America;  free speech,” Geiger wrote. “This small business has the right to refuse services. We are not bound to any oaths as realtors are regarding discrimination.”