Florida's Transgender Bathroom Rule Angers Conservatives

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A blond girl heads from a playground into a women's restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. "Your City Commission Made This Legal," the words on the TV screen read.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city's roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable using.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.

The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

"You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in," one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as "Keep Men out of Women's Restrooms and vice versa."

Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.

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The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force notes 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections. An attempt to repeal an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., failed when a court ruled opponents did not collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

Citizens for Good Public Policy, the group behind the commercial that aired last summer in Gainesville, collected more than 6,000 signatures last summer to win a referendum. If approved, the repeal measure would also prevent the commission from adding protections beyond what the state requires: race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability and marital status.

Cain Davis, chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, said the issue is about regulating a "government gone wild" and ensuring public safety, charging that sexual predators could now simply enter a women's restroom claiming to be a transgender individual.

"We know when men go into women's restrooms, bad things can happen," Davis said.

City Commissioner Craig Lowe, leader of a group called Equality is Gainesville's Business, called the ads from Davis' group a grossly distorted attempt to whip up fears.

Lowe's group believes anti-discrimination protections for people who change their sexual orientation are good for business and foster diversity. He noted that 433 of the Fortune 500 companies have policies covering sexual orientation and 153 cover gender identity.

Since the ordinance took effect, police have reported no problems in public restrooms stemming from the law.

Retired postal worker Donna Lee, who became a female with surgery in 2001, moved to Gainesville from Ocala last March after hearing about the anti-discrimination ordinance. The 60-year-old is working to save the protections.

"We just want to live our lives with the basic civil rights that everyone else has," Lee said.

But some are taking no chances.

Computer programmer Clare Holman, who was born male but now lives as a female, said she simply stays away from public toilets.

"I don't want to run afoul of the law by using the wrong restroom," Holman said.

___

On the Net:

Equality is Gainesville's Business: http://equalitygainesville.com

Citizens for Good Public Policy: http://citizensforgoodpublicpolicy.org

Comments

[Davina]

This law was passed to help protect people like me who were born with a mind opposite of their body. I feel disgusted when I hear such ignorance to the plight of others, like myself, tormented and treated as though we have an agenda. The transgender community only wants to be treated with dignity, respect and equality; if you feel that is an agenda then how come you do not also have the same agenda? I do not want your religious fanaticism so do not try to preach to me; I am only about love and compassion for all.

[Blurp]

"Florida Conservatives" is code-word for the Schutzstaffel. F those Baptist pr!cks!

[LMPE]

Is any community ever going to pass a law to keep homophobes out of our communities?

[eternalkerri]

Hi, I'm trans, so why don't I weigh in on this? In your lifetime you have probably already been in a bathroom with a transperson and not even known it. We are there to do one thing, use the bathroom. We have no interest in your children, we just want to go to the bathroom. We want to go to the one we identify and relate to. Those of us who are early in their transition go to their former identities bathroom, when we transition, we use the one we match in appearance with. I don't think men would feel comfortable with a person in a skirt in their bathroom, and vice versa. We don't want to be out of place in a public restroom because we already are subject to so much ridicule and ostracision out of ignorance, we don't want to deal with it there. It is actually unsafe for us to do so. We could be assaulted and harassed. We also don't want to be arrested for indecency, it has happened on multiple occasions which is a big source of stress for us. We don't want to "out" ourselves every time we go to the bathroom, as we want to be treated the way we identify. We aren't asking that you like us. We are just asking you respect us, treat us with some decency and understanding like any other person.

[eternalkerri]

oh, and get out of our way....we need to pee

[adamsmith3]

I always wanted to be a dolphin as a kid but I didn't go through with the surgery.

[splinky]

First off, I'm against discrimination of any kind. Having said that, I can understand the objection to this pro-TG law.

I think there's a point the writers of the anti-discrimination ordinance are missing. It states " the city's anti-discrimination ordinance...allows the city's roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they're most comfortable using." The point of legally restricting use of a public restroom to members of one gender is not about the comfort of the individual who would otherwise have the choice of which one to use--it is about the comfort of everyone else who is (already) using it. I am legally restricted from using a public women's room not because it would make me uncomfortable (it would not) but because of women who should have the right to use a restroom without worrying about men lurking around in there. And vice versa, of course.

[CrittersRTasty]

Well said.
(Unfortunately, if I agree with you, you're probably about to get attacked by someone...)

[NWBrunette]

No one has a "right" to a public restroom. No one has a "right" to feel comfortable. Being comfortable in a public space - any public space - comes from a person developing personal and social skills like self-esteem, acceptance and tolerance. And not from some perceived right to limit the choices of others. That's why we have non-discrimination laws, and obviously they are still needed.

[CrittersRTasty]

Assuming that you are correct that no one has a right to feel comfortable, there is no need for the legislation in the first place that purports to allow TG individuals to use whichever restroom the are more comfortable using. You cant have it both ways.
By your logic, the idea of a Mens' or Ladies' room is discriminatory.

Remember the old days when your personal plumbing determined which bathroom you used?

[klm68]

No one is missing the point that allowing discrimination based on gender identity is so that non-trans people won't feel uncomfortable about sharing a restroom with a trans person.

Read the ordinance. It’s also about fair housing, employment, and access to credit. The provisions on housing, employment, and access to accommodations (i.e. restrooms, churches) do not apply to religious institutions, nor to places where being seen unclothed is unavoidable (locker rooms, showers). The actions that people are supposedly concerned (peeking, harassment, etc.) about are already illegal under other laws.

Trans people already use the restrooms that correspond to their identities; most of the time no one notices, and if they notice, they don't care. The guy in the inflammatory advertisement that the "Citizens for Good Public Policy" are running is not transgender, and anti-discrimination ordinances do not allow people like him to use women's restrooms.

Cities and states all over the country have had such ordinances for more than thirty years, without problems. Removing protection would allow discrimination in housing, employment, and access to credit against anyone, transgender or not, who doesn’t meet someone else’s standards on what a man or a woman should be like. And, again, religious institutions are already allowed to discriminate. Apparently some people think that everyone should be allowed to discriminate.

[NWBrunette]

Nearly 20 States now have transgender nondiscrimination laws in place. Acceptance and tolerance are moving in to the mainstream. The folks who have trouble with this have many resources available to them to get educated. Get to know a transgender person too - its a refreshing experience.

[Riana]

I hate to say it but seriously.­..everythi­ng from the Carolina's across and down is red-neck, right-wing territory.

I don't even know why people move South.

They'll be the first ones to get you. Prop 8 anyone?

[CrittersRTasty]

I'd hazard a guess that people move to the South to get away from folks like you.

[Riana]

...please tell me you're one of them. Please.

[Blurp]

Prop 8 was California... non?

[Riana]

Yes..California would count as the south.

[libcrusader]

Speaking as a liberal, this should outrage all Americans. We don't want the conswervatives getting in front of us on this issue...or maybe we do..

[cylindar]

This idea sucks. It is also a bad idea to allow homosexuals to use same gender bathrooms as they are attracted to the same sex. I think both homosexual and trannsgender people should have their own bathrooms. If the governments allow this they should also allow men to use men who are heterosexual use womens bathrooms. Lets get real about this. The ideal is one thing but the practice is something else.

[Blurp]

And so Ann Coulter weighs in... thank you, Ann.

[unsinkable]

The problem, for those of you who insist that people who "look like women" should just use the women's room and vice versa, is that many trans people look androgynous or otherwise confusing, and what ends up happening is that they are alienated no matter which bathroom they use.

Imagine the actual scenario that trans people face in the restroom scenario. You've got to pee -- bad. As an FTM trans person, you risk your skin entering the men's room, knowing that many public men's rooms don't have doors on stalls and somebody might question your presence there based on your sitting down to urinate. Or, you head to the ladies' room but risk a woman reading you as a man and calling the police.

Just as risky, perhaps more so, for an MTF trans woman, who is at the mercy of any transphobic woman in the ladies' room. Imagine the ridicule and even violence they could face in the men's room, too.

As a person who partners with an FTM trans man, I know firsthand the kind of stress and fear the bathroom situation can bring up, and I also know that trans folks aren't out to harass, molest or trick anyone. They just want to go to the bathroom in peace, something the rest of us take for granted.

[markinaz]

I wasn't aware that pedophilia runs rampant in the trans community. Does anyone have statistical figures to back this up?

[Riana]

I do hope you're being sarcastic

[NWBrunette]

Interesting how there was a lot of pedophilia in the priest community, but for decades that didn't stop anyone. But oh my, someone wants to change genders and the lid comes off.

[jnah]

are you looking for facts to support your hypothesis? thats kinda science in reverse

[MoreLiberalWithAge]

The protest against this law is completely absurd. First, a child molester isn't going to be stopped by a law banning him/her from the restroom of the other gender. Such people have no qualms about breaking the law, since, last I checked, child molestation itself is illegal!!

Secondly, who's to know, if a TG person uses the stall? I admit that a pair of feet pointed the "wrong" way in the stall next to me might give me pause, but as long as I don't have to watch, what do I care?

Third, the public restroom behavior that should really concern all of us is mess making. Failing to pick up toilet paper that has fallen on the floor, failing to wipe up urine that has sprinkled the seat...THESE are the real crimes that should be punished! ;-)

[CrittersRTasty]

I have to warn you, you are using the same common-sense argument that we use to try to fight gun-ban legislation....I agree with you, but you're likely to take a few heat-rounds....

[donniebnyc]

So you equate using the wrong restroom with killing people?

[Aesthete]

If you look like a guy, use the men's restroom. If you look like a gal, use the women's restroom. Your gender status is really nobody's business but yours.

[MichaelSedgwick]

I wonder what is meant by "look like a guy" or "look like a gal?" Whose definitions will provide the standards for these appearances? Will it be based on hair length? Clothing style? Physical features? Use or nonuse of make-up? Height and weight? Gender identity is complex and I think these efforts help show the fluidity of these categories that are often assumed to be distinct/different.

[CrittersRTasty]

Oh please. Can we stop intentionally throwing roadblocks in the way of common sense?

[susierr]

Always accompany your child into the restrooms. ANY one can be the molester.

I think a third "family rest room" is the answer.

[Kaelyn]

The whole bathroom thing isn't as big a problem as people want to make it.

For years now, we've had single parents of both genders who have needed to take children to public restrooms because they are too young to do it alone. We've had people of both genders caring for elderly parents who may need to clean up when in public. As a result, most newer shopping malls and public places now have a "men's" a "women's" and "family" bathrooms. In using a family bathroom you could see either gender, and you know it.

I agree with other posters that you should use the bathroom whose gender designation you appear to fit.

Folks, we all need to lighten up. All people deserve the same civil rights. I have no fear of a transgendered person molesting a child in a public bathroom. According to the FBI, 85% of all molestation is done by a family member or close family friend, and it's done in their home or the child's home. Most parents accompany their child under 12 into the bathroom, and into the stalls only if needed. In reality, the chances of the abuse scenario the religious winguts are using to scare people actually happening are very slim indeed. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be aware and careful, but the level of fear being generated here is simply unwarranted.