Oct 28, 2013 02:05 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Abdul Asquith was told he looks, sounds and acts like a woman when being denied rental of a library laptop and, because the person in the ID photo was obviously a man, he could not have the computer.

According to WPTV, the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) student was wearing a hoodie and shorts on this particular day and had his hair pulled back. He said he sometimes does dress in feminine clothes and identifies as a gay man. He said the librarian refused to let him check out the laptop because he did not look like himself in his school ID photo.

"She looked at the ID and looked down at it. She said, 'You sound, look and act like a girl and in this ID is a man, therefore I'm not giving you a laptop,'" said Asquith.

An FAU spokesman did not return WPTV's request for comment after the librarians at the desk declined to answer any question and directed the reporter elsewhere.

Asquith spoke to three librarians before finally being granted the laptop.

"It looks just like me," he said. "I identify with my ID, I wasn't there dressed up, I didn't have on any dress, I wasn't dressed in character."

Asquith's friend Samantha Lemessy, and one of multiple witnesses, said the school owes her friend an apology. Several strangers watched as he struggled to do what any student has the privilege of doing.

"I was distraught," Asquith said. "I was embarrassed because of the students that were behind me."

According to Think Progress, the incident could be categorized as discrimination because of perceived gender roles. In other words, Asquith was denied access because he did not appear to be a man despite wearing gender-neutral clothing.

"If I don't speak out, who's going to speak out?" he said. "So, people need to start speaking out and addressing every time this happens."

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