New Laws Are Making Public Bathrooms Safer for Transgender People

[Omaha Steve]

X post in LGBT

Single-occupancy bathrooms in the gay-friendly city of West Hollywood will soon have to be gender-neutral.



January 14, 2015 By Nicole Pasulka

Staff Writer Nicole Pasulka has written for Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, The Believer, and New York Observer. She lives in New York City.


Starting this week, businesses in West Hollywood, California, have 60 days to get rid of the men's and women's signs on the doors of single-occupancy bathrooms and make those places gender-neutral.

Bathroom rules are changing thanks to a law passed last year by the City Council of West Hollywood, an independent municipality in the city of Los Angeles that has a population of about 34,000 and is a hub for gay life.

Why is it a big deal to have gender-neutral—meaning neither male nor female—bathrooms? Many transgender people say that they frequently experience difficulty or downright harassment when they try to use public restrooms. A study of trans people in Washington, D.C., found that nearly 70 percent had been verbally harassed when using a public bathroom. Of the people surveyed, 18 percent had been denied restroom access, and almost 10 percent were victims of physical violence—meaning they were forcibly removed, hit, kicked, or cornered—in public bathrooms.

Transgender people have also been reported to the police for using the bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. In Houston, Tyjanae Moore was arrested for using the women's restroom in a library, even though the city's nondiscrimination policy specified that trans people can use the bathrooms that match their gender identities. An Idaho transgender woman named Ally Robledo was charged with trespassing after using the women's room in a grocery store. Robledo pointed out that because she identifies and lives as a woman, she doesn't feel safe using the men's bathroom.

FULL story at link.

[Thinkingabout]

1. I want to go to the schools in Kentucky who wants to pay $2500 for every transgender going to the

"wrong restroom", take a few decoys and then we can split the money. I really do know how much further representatives can go and still function.

[kickysnana]

2. I am for anything that makes bathrooms safer.

My daughter-in-laws believe God will protect. I insisted that my two sons go with each other to the public rest rooms and if they saw anything they didn't like or made them feel uncomfortable to come and get me. This is based on my life experiences. However I am well aware that what I might find horrifying small boys might find funny. There were no incidents.

Last Christmas we are in Culver's having lunch and my just 8 year old grandson announced he needed to use the rest room. So off he dances out of sight to the front of the store. I think I held my breath until he was back.

I believe God sometimes helps but for most things he made parents and we are supposed to try our best to keep our kids out of harms way if we can.

Safe for kids, AND safe for everyone else.