(Van Nuys, California) A routine trip to the Social Security office Monday turned into 30 minutes of shock, disbelief and irritation for Lapriss Gilbert, who was forced to leave the federal building by a guard who objected to her "lesbian.com" T-shirt. As she headed for a line to pick up a Social Security card for her son, Gilbertwas stopped by a guard who said her T-shirt, naming an educational and resource Web site for gay women, was offensive.
"As an African-American and a lesbian, I haven't been through one day without facing some sort of discrimination ... but this is just shocking," said Gilbert, 31. After being kicked out of the federal building, Gilbert called her mother, Tanya, who calls herself a longtime activist for gay rights. "In 30 years as an activist, this is one of the most unsettling things I have seen. When she called me I told her to wait right there," said Tanya Gilbert, who recently moved to the Van Nuys area from Chicago. When the mother arrived, she called the LAPD to protest her daughter's removal. But before four Los Angeles police officers arrived with at least one federal agent, Lapriss Gilbert was told she could come back into the building and was escorted to the front of the line by another Paragon security guard. READ MORE
