Lawmaker pushes for “all-gender” restrooms

Multiple toilets at SOMArts Cultural Center have all gender restroom access in San Francisco, California, on Friday, January 8, 2015. Next Tuesday supervisor David Campos will introduce legislation that requires the city to make all single-room bathrooms gender neutral as well. less Multiple toilets at SOMArts Cultural Center have all gender restroom access in San Francisco, California, on Friday, January 8, 2015. Next Tuesday supervisor David Campos will introduce legislation that ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Lawmaker pushes for “all-gender” restrooms 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

SACRAMENTO — Transgender people may find a bit of relief in a bill being proposed by a California lawmaker Friday that would make all public single-stall restrooms gender neutral.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said AB1732 would require all single-occupancy restrooms in private businesses and government buildings to be “all-gender,” instead of one restroom for men and another for women. Supporters of the bill say it would allow transgender and gender nonconforming people to pee in peace, without verbal or physical threats when they are seen entering a restroom for the gender they identify with.

The bill builds on a restroom access bill signed into law in 2013 that allows transgender K-12 students to use the school restroom corresponding with the gender they identify with.

“The reality is that everyone has to use the bathroom and everyone should be able to use the bathroom without harassment or safety issues,” said Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. “Earlier in my own transition I had people tell me I was in the wrong bathroom, I had people who very angrily asserted I was in the wrong bathroom.”

The bill follows a growing movement across the country to make single-stall restrooms gender-neutral. Last year, the University of California system joined more than 150 schools across the nation that have gender-neutral restrooms, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Stonewall Center. The White House also added a gender-neutral restroom last year.

This month, San Francisco Supervisor David Campos introduced legislation that would require business and government buildings in the city to make single-stall restrooms available to everyone on the gender spectrum, not just women and men. As with Ting’s bill, Campos’ legislation does not affect multi-stall restrooms.

Ting said California would be the first state to codify the restroom access bill, although New York and Vermont are considering similar legislation. While more cities and now states are headed toward inclusive restrooms, an Indiana lawmaker introduced legislation that would make it a crime for transgender people to use any restroom but that of their gender at birth.

“Laws that focus on creating restrictions to restrooms are an invasion of privacy,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “Who wants people checking papers when you walk into the bathroom? Who wants bathroom police?”

Brad Dacus, president of the conservative legal group Pacific Justice Institute, said the focus should be on the privacy of everyone who uses the restroom, not just the privacy of transgender people. However, he said his concerns are with multi-stall restrooms, not single-stall restrooms.

“With unisex restrooms you take away the fear or apprehension that someone from the opposite sex will come into the restroom or occupy the stall next to them in an uncomfortable way,” said Dacus, whose Pacific Justice Institute led efforts to overturn the state’s law allowing transgender students to choose the restroom and sports team that correlates with their gender identity. The group’s ballot initiatives to overturn that law were unsuccessful.

Ting said he is confident AB1732 will pass, calling it a common-sense approach to restrooms.

“Bathrooms are something that are a human necessity,” Ting said. “Unfortunately, they have at times become a lightning-rod issue. This impacts dads with daughters, moms with sons, adults with aging parents and others.”

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez