Transgender proof plan draws critics

By Jeff Wright
The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2005

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/10/19/d1.cr.genderidentity.1019.p1.php?section=cityregion

Requiring transgender people to show documentation in order to use
public bathrooms and showers would create more problems than it
would solve, a half-dozen people told the Eugene Human Rights
Commission on Tuesday night.

Such documentation is discriminatory "and smacks of Big Brother,"
said Judy Moseley, a member of the Lane County Human Rights
Committee. "Who's going to ask for the documentation, and who's it
going to be asked of?"

The perception that many transgender people are sexual predators is
a harmful myth that speaks to the need for a law protecting them
from discrimination, added Amy Bustin, community education
coordinator for Sexual Assault Support Services, a local nonprofit
agency.

"Trans and gender-variant people are more likely to be victims of
violence, including sexual assault and often murder, rather than
perpetrators," Bustin said.

The testimony comes as the city human rights panel pushes to have
Eugene join 79 other cities, counties and states across the country
that already have added gender identity to the list of "classes"
protected from discrimination in public employment, housing and
accommo- dations.

Commissioners are united in their support for such a law; the
sticking point is whether it should include a requirement that
people claiming to be of a certain gender show proof - such as a
driver's license or therapist's letter - that they really are that
gender. A person's genitalia would not necessarily reflect that
gender.

Earlier this year, a Gender Identity Work Group unanimously
recommended that revisions to the city's human rights code include
allowing people to enter whichever public bathroom, locker room or
shower they regard as "most appropriate" for them.

But a handful of critics, including some transgender women, say it's
appropriate to require documentation - in the interests of
protecting women and children from being exposed to male genitalia
in female-oriented public spaces.

Similar concerns surfaced in 2002, when the City Council approved
revisions to the human rights code but dropped language relating to
transgender rights in the face of a threatened veto by then-Mayor
Jim Torrey.

Rebecca Taylor, a transgender woman, submitted signatures from 28
women - three transgender and 25 straight - who she said support the
idea of requiring documentation. Eugene should follow the city of
Portland's lead and pass a gender identity law that requires
documentation, Taylor said.

"That's an absolutely minimum requirement, and it greatly increases
the chances of passing a law here," she said, referring to final
approval by the City Council and, possibly, voters.

Taylor, however, was the sole person to speak in support of
documentation. Others agreed with Joe Humphreys, who said
documentation "makes people guilty until proven innocent."

Humphreys said his employer recently excused him from work so he
could observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur - without requiring
"a note from a rabbi." Requiring transgender people to show
documentation would feel just as insulting, he said.

Transgender people could actually face greater risk of harassment or
violence if forced to use a public facility other than the one they
prefer, Humphreys said. Imagine forcing a person moving from female
to male identity - but who has not yet had reassignment surgery, or
doesn't want or can't afford such surgery - to use a male facility
against their wishes, he said.

Toby Hill-Meyer, a self-described "gender queer" who doesn't
identify as exclusively male or female, said he is "the trans person
that people are afraid of." Because he wears male clothes but has
breasts, some people will think it wrong no matter which public
facilities he uses.

So why not let him make the choice? "Regardless of documentation, my
body will be the same," Hill-Meyer said.

City human rights analyst Greg Rikhoff said similar legislation has
been "a slam-dunk" with little or no controversy in other
communities - prompting Commissioner Neil Van Steenbergen to ask why
that hasn't been the case here. Rikhoff cited Eugene's reputation
for introspection, and the "legacy of 2002" when similar concerns
were raised.

Rikhoff said progress also has been slowed because city staff
members have asked for a legal review of how the issue of access to
public facilities relates to public indecency laws.

Commissioner Misa Joo said that issue should have been addressed
long ago, and that she worries about the negative connotations of
tying gender identity protection to public indecency laws. She and
other commissioners voiced frustration at the delay in forwarding a
recommendation to the City Council.

The commission may schedule a work session to discuss the matter
further before its next regular meeting Nov. 15.