Hazlet Theater Discriminated Against Autistic Son, Lawsuit Says

HAZLET, NJ — A Holmdel mother is suing her neighborhood Hazlet Cinemark 12 movie theater for discrimination after the theater told her and her special needs son to leave because she helped him use the women's restroom.

Christine Gallinaro said her son, 15, who has autism, was ready to enjoy a viewing of the Disney film "Elemental."

But Gallinaro's helping her son to use the women's bathroom prompted the management at the theater to argue with her and call Hazlet police to eject her and her son, Gallinaro said.

Now R. Armen McOmber is filing suit for Gallinaro on the grounds of discrimination. The theater's action "was just stupid," he said. McOmber is with the firm of McOmber, McOmber and Luber of Red Bank.

Gallinaro said Wednesday that she hopes the suit has a far-reaching effect.

She said she has lived in Holmdel for 12 years and the theater is minutes away from the family home.

"It was home away from home for my son," she said.

Her son's autism leaves him with few friends, and going to the movies is a big joy in his life. He also has severe language limitations, she said.

She normally would use a family bathroom for her son, whom she can't leave on his own in the bathroom. Her husband would take him to a men's room, she said, but she was alone with her son that day. She also has a second son.

"I was with him all the time. We go into a handicapped stall. I am very much for everyone's safety," she said, adding that those in the women's restroom made no complaint.

Cinemark is a large enough company, she said, that it should offer a family bathroom and refine its sensitivity training for employees about the treatment of disabled customers.

"This is 2023. Autism is not going away. They must do better," she said in an interview Wednesday.

She said when the police were called they were "very supportive" but did have to escort them off the private property once called. Gallinaro recorded portions of the encounters on her phone.

"No family should have to go through this. Life is challenging enough," said Gallinaro.

The suit is based on the state Law Against Discrimination, McOmber said, and names the Hazlet theater Cinemark Hazlet 12, as well as that theater’s manager and assistant manager.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Monmouth County Superior Court on Tuesday, alleges violations of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.

On behalf of her disabled son, Gallinaro seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs, the lawsuit says.

Here's what happened on the June 16 trip to the movies, according to the suit:

Gallinaro and J.G., her son, traveled to Cinemark Hazlet 12 to see the movie. During their visit, J.G. needed to use the restroom. Since the movie theater did not have a family restroom, and because Gallinaro’s husband was not with them, she took her disabled son to the woman’s restroom.

However, as they left the women’s restroom, the suit alleges that the location’s manager "angrily approached them and shouted discriminatory remarks directed towards the obviously disabled" J.G., asserting that “he shouldn’t be in here (referring to the women’s restroom)” and that a “grown” man should not be in the women’s restroom.

According to McOmber, the manager then "doubled down on her discriminatory rhetoric by (1) loudly exclaiming in the theater’s crowded lobby that 'this (referring to the women’s restroom) is not a transgender bathroom'; (2) ordering Ms. Gallinaro and her son to leave the premises, and (3) outrageously directing the assistant manager to call the police to have them removed from the theater."

The suit alleges that both the assistant manager and the movie theater’s security guards then "publicly humiliated Ms. Gallinaro and her son by surrounding them in a hostile and confrontational demeanor." The assistant manager ultimately did, in fact, call the police to have them removed from the premises.

“The allegations are very disturbing. Ms. Gallinaro’s 15-year-old son, who is diagnosed with autism and severe speech delays, 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. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients in exposing this outrageous and unlawful behavior,” McOmber said.

No one complained in the women's restroom when the young man needed to be helped by his mother, McOmber said.

And the case struck a nerve with him:

"We've all been there. Whether you have young children or a disabled child, you can't let them use the bathroom alone," he said on Wednesday.

McOmber said that for the young man, "seeing movies was his life - they are a big deal."

At Cinemark in Hazlet, an employee there said no one was allowed to discuss the matter.

A request for a response was also sent to the Cinemark corporate office. There was no reply to Patch as of Wednesday afternoon.