A trans woman is speaking out after a troubling experience at a hotel in Atlanta that she believes is a clear case of housing discrimination. Sadie Vice, a longtime LGBTQ pageant winner from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, says she was denied a pre-booked hotel room at Extended Stay America Atlanta-Northlake—simply because the gender marker on her Alabama ID didn’t match her appearance.
Vice had traveled more than 200 miles on March 3 to participate in a cancer charity show. After a long day riding with her dad, boarding a Greyhound, and finally grabbing a Lyft from the Atlanta bus station, she was ready to rest. But when she tried to check in, she said the front desk agent told her, “People like you can’t stay here.” Vice had booked the hotel through Expedia weeks earlier.
When she showed her reservation, the agent asked for ID—then refused her stay and even told her to cancel an upcoming reservation later in the month. Extended Stay later claimed they had no record of her at check-in, even suggesting she might’ve spoken to a guest, not staff—despite that guest supposedly pulling up her reservation info. Vice’s Lyft receipt proves she arrived at the right address.
Vice was able to find a room at a nearby Days Inn and perform in the show. But she wants people to understand what happened wasn’t just one rude employee—it’s a larger pattern. She says Alabama’s restrictive laws forced her to carry an ID that outs her, making her vulnerable to moments like this.
