Local religious group suing city to remove outdoor urinals at Dolores Park

A pissoir, an open-air men's toilet, is seen as a Muni train passes behind it, on Church Street in Dolores Park, in San Francisco, California, on Monday, April 18, 2016. A pissoir, an open-air men's toilet, is seen as a Muni train passes behind it, on Church Street in Dolores Park, in San Francisco, California, on Monday, April 18, 2016. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Local religious group suing city to remove outdoor urinals at Dolores Park 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Littering might be most people's biggest problem with Dolores Park, but one local religious group hates those new urinals so much that they're suing the city to get them removed.

In a civil complaint filed last Thursday by the San Francisco Chinese Christian Union, the urinals are called an "illegal and wasteful expenditure of public funds" as well as "offensive to the senses" and "grossly unseemly."

As the SF City Attorney notes in a very snarky press release, the San Francisco Chinese Christian Union has been identified as an "anti-LGBT hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"If I had to predict the top 100 things in Dolores Park likely to offend these plaintiffs, I wouldn't have guessed that this would make the cut," City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey says in the release.

Most importantly, we learn via the complaint that the official name for these pee holes is a pissoir, which is truly delightful.

The suit alleges that the pissoir is not compliant with plumbing codes, has no hand-washing amenities, is not wheelchair-accessible and discriminates against women because, well, it's a urinal.

"Women and girls would be subject to extreme embarrassment in a measure not experienced by men or boys who merely unzip their trousers and aim at the whole [sic, this is their amazing typo] when urinating," reads the suit.

Also — and they repeat this point a lot — it makes them feel icky.

"The open-air urination hole violates the privacy of those who need to use the restroom but would be required to expose their bodies and suffer the shame and degradation of urinating in public view," the complaint reads.

The pissoir was a highlight of the recent renovation of Dolores Park, intended to help with the long lines and constantly disgusting bathroom facilities that often drove people to "go urinate on the neighbors' houses."