A judge in New York paved the way for a lawsuit brought by the Hispanic AIDS Forum to proceed against the HAF’s former landlord. The Hispanic AIDS Forum is suing based on a claim of discrimination against transgendered persons.
The landlord received complaints that transgendered clients who were born male but later became female were using the women’s restroom. When the HAF’s lease was up, the landlord refused to renew the lease and the organization was forced to relocate.
Transgendered advocates argue that there is essentially no criteria — other than personal preference — to dictate which restroom an individual should use. HAF executive director Heriberto Sanchez Soto told Columbia Radio News,
You cannot go to the subway and say I feel uncomfortable with all of you being here, while I am here, I am god, y’all get out so I can have the space to myself.
Jennifer Levi, an attorney at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, told Columbia Radio News,
It is a privacy claim which basically says that it’s inappropriate for an employer or a landlord to ask questions about somebody’s genital makeup in order to determine what appropriate restroom facility they should use and it’s very significant that a judge agreed that info relating to a person’s anatomy is not relevant in determining what restroom they should use.
And, for good measure, an ACLU spokesman compared complaints over transvestites born male using the women’s restroom to Jim Crow-era segregation. James Esseks, Litigation Director of the ACLU’s AIDS Project, told 365gay.com,
It is unfortunate that the bathroom has once again become a battleground in the fight for equal rights. The landlord’s decision to exclude transgendered people from the bathrooms and common areas was just as wrong today as it was 50 years ago when business owners in the South tried to force African Americans to use separate bathrooms.
We’ll see who comes out on top in this pissing contest.
Sources:
Suit against transphobic landlord moves forward. Doug Windsor, 365Gay.Com, October 16, 2003.
Transgender Bathrooms (Transcript). Emily Grossman, Columbia Radio News, March 28, 2003.