Bathroom Battle
If you're a woman trapped inside a man's body, which bathroom do you go to?

The Eugene City Council will wrestle with that question Sept. 18 when it considers a proposed anti-discrimination ordinance that may require businesses and organizations to let transgendered people use the restroom of their choice.

The thought of cross-dressing men in women's rooms has the Christian right in a tizzy.

"The very idea of an adult male in the restroom with my young child turns my stomach, makes me want to vomit," said Rennina Brittain, a "child of God" who testified at a Human Rights Commission (HRC) hearing. "If something were to happen to my child who is responsible? Are you responsible?"

Bill Northrup wrote a nine-page e-mail predicting the ordinance would bring chaos to schools and workplaces. "It will provide the sexually deviant with a source of recreation in public restrooms," he wrote, predicting "predators could easily use it to rape or molest."

"It's sort of a free bathroom pass for pedophiles and voyeurs," Nick Urhausen testified.

But the transgender provision has the unanimous backing of the HRC and supporters call the opposition ignorant and/or biased.

Transgendered people don't want to go to the women's room to "gawk and stare or molest," said William Churchill, member of a HRC work group that recommended the change. "They just want to go in there and do their business and get out."

Jennifer Self, another HRC work group member, called the "free bathroom pass" theory far fetched. "Somebody would have to actually identify themselves publicly as transgendered," putting themselves at risk of discrimination and attack, she said.

"It makes so little sense," Self said of the criticism. The proposal doesn't make it legal to attack or harass people in restrooms, she said. Even without the ordinance, a criminal "could already do that."

Current statistics show that the vast majority of sexual assaults are by straight men, Self said. "It's not transgendered people."

"Transgender people are not predators," said Roey Thorpe, director of Basic Rights Oregon. "It's an ugly stereotype."

Thorpe said there must be some basic "societal anxiety" about going to the bathroom. Pointing to the history of the fight to desegregate restrooms in the South, she said, "every civil rights movement does indeed come down to the bathroom."

In reality, transgendered people are far more afraid of heterosexuals when they go to the bathroom, Thorpe said. They are "terrified" of harassment or that someone will call the police, she said. "They just want to not be noticed."

Chicora Martin, the UO's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support and education director, said transgendered people often live in fear. "I've worked with students who've waited an entire day to use a restroom facility," she said. It's "ironic" people would fear someone who's "so fearful of their own safety."

Gretchen Miller, chair of the HRC work group, said the ordinance is just common sense. "If you look like, are dressing like, or are acting like a woman, it seems like you should go to the women's bathroom. It's likely if you go to the men's bathroom, you're going to get in trouble," she said.

Miller pointed out that 46 other local governments have already passed similar transgender rights ordinances, including Portland, Seattle and more conservative towns like Iowa City. "We're hardly breaking new ground here," she said.

Cities that have passed the ordinances haven't suffered "chaos" or anything like it, according to Miller. "We're not aware of big problems that have happened," she said. "It's uneventful."

City human rights staffer Greg Rikhoff said in most places bathrooms are not a big issue. Most restrooms have private stalls and many new buildings include unisex private restrooms for families or people in wheelchairs.

Shower facilities in health clubs may be more of a problem, Rikhoff said. But organizations in other cities have solved the problem through scheduling or providing alternative facilities. The ordinance requires only "reasonable" accommodation, and small businesses likely wouldn't be forced to build separate showers or bathrooms, Rikhoff said.

Janice Eby dismissed opponents bathroom fears. "A child is more likely to be abused by a family member or by a member of the clergy," she testified in support of transgender rights. "I'm fed up with hatred and bigotry." %G—%@ Alan Pittman