Sean C. Morgan
The city will change its restrooms to cope with possible issues surrounding their use by transgender people.
But city staff are unsure how to begin discussing the issue in context of a city councilor’s proposed ordinance to criminalize using the wrong bathroom, locker room or similar facilities in public facilities and private property that is open to the public.
The Public Safety Committee met on June 28 to discuss the proposal.
Councilor Jeff Goodwin, who proposed the ordinance in June, said it was a “very, very draft” ordinance. The proposal makes using facilities that are not designated for the offender’s sex, based on what combinations of x and y chromosomes the person has, a class C misdemeanor.
The proposal cites a long history of violent and abusive behavior that have led people to a strong preference for privacy from the opposite sex while in a state of undress.
Obviously, the city can easily deal with the issue in its restrooms, making them gender-neutral, Police Chief Jeff Lynn said, and city staff will be doing that soon. City facilities have just two sets of rest-rooms that are sex-specific: the ones at the Police Department and the Public Library. Remaining public restrooms are already gender-neutral.
It’s more of an issue for the Sweet Home School District, which has restrooms throughout its schools, as well as locker rooms at the main gym and the community pool.
Lynn presented the Public Safety Committee with a copy of an Oregonian story about how Dallas School District leaders had agreed to allow a transgender student to use the boys bathroom.
The Dallas School Board invited lawyers to explain publicly what would happen if the district barred transgender students from using the bathrooms they want to use.
The answer, according to a Salem attorney: The district will be sued. It will spend six figures fighting the lawsuit, and it will lose.
It’s not an easy topic to deal with, Lynn told the committee.
“I’m not sure how we want to begin discussing it.”
The Oregon School Boards Association is tackling the issue and issuing recommendations, Lynn said. He wanted to suggest that the city get some of the other players who might be affected by the ordinance to the table.
Predominantly, the ordinance would affect the School District and businesses, he said.
“I can’t speak for the School District,” said Greg Mahler, a city councilor and member of the Public Safety Committee. Many businesses will almost be forced to put in a third bathroom.
They’ll likely remove the “men” and “women” signs, put a lock on them and call their bathrooms gender-neutral, said City Attorney Robert Snyder. “It’s not the bathroom. It’s the locker room.”
“Showers and stuff like that,” Mahler said.
It’s a legal mess, Goodwin said, noting that it’s already been an issue at the Lebanon swimming pool.
Lynn asked the committee what it means if the city is telling the School District one thing while the district’s legal counsel is telling it something else.
“Our ordinance is superior within the City of Sweet Home,” Goodwin said.
He noted that the federal government can threaten to withhold funds, referring to the Obama Administration’s guidance issued in May, which directed public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identity.
The guidelines came in the form of a joint letter from the departments of Education and Justice.
This goes beyond videos, photos and assaults, Goodwin said. Now, a man has a right to go into a women’s restroom, and the city cannot stop him.
Those men will use the transgender issue as cover to go into women’s restrooms, Goodwin said.
One in three women are assaulted by the time they reach adulthood, he said.
With conflicting direction for the district and mixed messages for a suspect, an officer going into the School District and investigating a complaint isn’t going to be easy or a good thing to do, Lynn said. He would like to see everybody involved at the table and having a discussion.
Mahler, chairman of the committee, suggested letting the new superintendent, Tom Yahraes, time to get his feet wet and then setting up a joint meeting with the School Board on the issue.
Yahraes said the city hasn’t approached the School District yet.
“Our goal would be to comply with the state, local and federal laws,” he said.
The Public Safety Committee includes councilors Mahler, Dave Trask and Goodwin.