Washington coffee shop removes astonishingly transphobic sign with ableist slur after public outcry

This story originally appeared on Them.

A Spokane, Washington, coffee stand has taken down a transphobic and ableist sign after community backlash, according to local newspaper The Spokesman-Review.

2nd Base Espresso adjusted the reader board outside its business earlier this month to display the message “Trans women are retarded men.”

The sign was removed by July 14, per local NBC affiliate KHQ, but only after multiple residents lobbied city officials over the flagrantly offensive message. Despite these complaints, the mayor’s office originally said that the sign was protected as free speech.

“While we do not condone this type of messaging, it is our understanding that it’s protected under the First Amendment,” Erin Hut, the city’s director of communications and marketing, told KHQ. “Anyone who believes they’ve been subjected to a hate crime or bias incident is encouraged to call the Washington Hate Crimes and Bias Incidents Hot Line.”

Per the Spokesman-Review, 2nd Base Espresso is often known for putting up “offensive and often inappropriate signs.” (Indeed, the sign featuring the transphobic and ableist slur was reportedly replaced with one telling people to “Calm your tits.”)

In the past, the sign has included crude and demeaning references to sex, genitalia, deportations, and Mexican people. In 2017, 2nd Base Espresso put up a sign that said, “Why can’t u play Uno with Mexicans? They take all the green cards,” the Spokesman-Review reported at the time.

The business received a flood of negative reviews online after its most recent sign, leading Yelp to temporarily shut down its page. Several recent one-star reviews trash the business for its signage.

“This establishment should be ashamed of itself. The fact you think it’s funny to put such nasty messages about your fellow human beings on your sign is appalling,” one review stated, per the Spokesman-Review.

One local resident told the Spokesman-Review that, while the signage has had some offensive words in the past, this was the first time she remembers seeing a slur. Elbe Seaton, who is queer and has a special needs child, said “Spokane will make headlines for the wrong reasons. People will say, ‘Oh, that’s Spokane for you.’ But that’s not us. That’s not Hillyard.”.”

Though the business removed the sign, Spokane residents gathered in protest this past Sunday, July 19, saying they wanted a more positive environment in Spokane’s Hillyard neighborhood.

“I'm just tired of seeing hatred and ugliness in the world, and everyone's calling First Amendment, and she can put what she wants on her board,” the demonstrator told KHQ. “And I can stand out here and put what I want on my sign.”

"They used some pretty horrendous language targeting trans people. And I think that is obviously disgusting,” Daniel Jolley, another protester, told local affiliate KXLY. “I think we should come here and fight against that.”

The protest also drew counterprotesters, who said the sign was protected by the First Amendment.

Of course, as people really should learn in grade school, the First Amendment protects people from government censorship of speech, not public backlash for inflammatory speech.

Aside from the use of a transphobic slur, the sign’s use of the ableist slur “retarted” speaks to the unwelcome cultural resurgence of the word, once considered taboo. In an April 2025 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the host said, “The word ‘retarded’ is back, and it’s one of the great culture victories,” adding that the comeback was “probably spurred on by podcasts.”

Last year, highly public people, including Elon Musk and Kanye West used the word in public. The resurgence is part of an “apparent death of empathy” Adrienne Massanari, a professor at American University, told CNN.

“What you’re seeing now, people’s masks are off,” she said in a feature on the return of the slur. “This is not just misunderstanding but the mischaracterization and demonization of communities. The use of that kind of language is signaling a shift, a desire to sort of push the envelope.”

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