Texas school changes gender expression policy after NDO threat

Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Texas school changes gender expression policy after NDO threat 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — The city's nondiscrimination policy that became a lightning rod for controversy last year seems to be having a clear effect on businesses in San Antonio.

A near-North Side cosmetology school with locations around the state apologized Friday and immediately changed its policy regarding gender expression after a transgender woman was told she must dress according to her government-issued identification and threatened Friday to file a nondiscrimination complaint with the city.

Lindsey Fahlberg, 32, said the director of the Ogle School of Cosmetology and Esthetics, located at Park North Shopping Center, told her during an admissions interview last Monday that she must wear men's clothing and not wear makeup if she wanted to attend the school.

“I felt like it was a slap in the face and asking me to change who I am,” said Fahlberg, who has identified as a woman for more than 10 years. “This is a field where you are supposed to express yourself, and they are telling me I have to hide my creativity.”

Jeff Chiarelli, director of marketing for the school, said in a Friday email that the school's vice president issued an apology “for any miscommunication” and “for the way the student's admission interview was handled.”

“We all agreed that this was an opportunity to better serve and accommodate our transgender community by updating our policy as it relates to gender orientation,” he said.

The school added “gender identity” and “gender expression” to its nondiscrimination policy, which now reflects the city's recently adopted ordinance, as well as changes to the dress code and adding unisex bathrooms at all eight campuses in the state, Chiarelli said.

“We sincerely hope that Lindsey will consider becoming one of our students,” he said.

Fahlberg said she asked the San Antonio school's director if they follow the city's nondiscrimination policy. The director, who only identified herself as Irene to the Express-News Friday, told her that they follow their own policy, Fahlberg said.

Fahlberg said Monday she “applauds” the school's policy change but said she would be finding another school in order to “avoid the situation.”

She said she is unsure whether she still will file a complaint.

Expansions to the city's nondiscrimination policy last year added a prohibition of bias against an individual based on sexuality, gender or veteran status. The protections include “places of public accommodation,” as well as any entity that does business with the city.

Deputy City Attorney Veronica Zertuche said Friday that the allegations would have fallen under the NDO's public accommodations section. Violation of the section is a Class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a $500 fine.

The city attorney's office is working on a website for submission of complaints. Until it's ready, complaints still can be made by contacting the office, which is devising a plan to investigate allegations.

Multiple calls for comment to District 1 Councilman Diego Bernal, who spearheaded the ordinance, were not returned.

Debate on the expansions, which also are on the books in Austin, Dallas, El Paso and Fort Worth, drew national attention last year but eventually were passed by the City Council. In four separate public forums since mid-August, more than 1,500 people approached the dais at City Hall and addressed the council, speaking passionately in support of and against the ordinance.

Attention on the ordinance ballooned when former District 9 Councilwoman Elisa Chan called being gay “disgusting” in a recording provided to the San Antonio Express-News by one of Chan's former staffers.

In the recording, Chan joked she would tell a gay or transgender person to “strip down! What equipment do you have?”