Gender identity focus of restroom legislation

By Izumi Hansen
WNPA Olympia News Bureau

A bill to repeal a rule allowing people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with drew a substantial crowd at its first and only public hearing Wednesday in Olympia.

SB 6443 passed 4-3 through the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee later that day, four republicans in favor, three democrats opposed. A companion bill, HB 2935, has not been scheduled for a House committee public hearing.

The Washington State Human Rights Commission created a rule based on a 2006 non-discrimination law for sexual identity passed by the Legislature. The rule says people must be allowed to use gender-segregated places that match their gender identity.

The new bill would prevent the commission from further creating rules concerning gender-segregated locations.

Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, the prime sponsor of the bill, dubbed the rule “men in the women’s locker room.” He said the rule was problematic because of the implementation process, the content of the rule and that “nobody heard about it.”

“There’s an expectation that parents have with regards of when they take their kids to school of who will use which locker room, who will use which bathroom,” he said to the committee.

He also said businesses would be negatively affected by the rule, but that this was a compromise bill since it allowed individual businesses to institute the rule for their business.

Laura Lindstrand, a policy analyst for the Human Rights Commission, said in an interview that the rule was put in place to clarify the 2006 law.

Proponents of the bill said the rule opens doors for sexual predators and human traffickers and that the rulemaking process was unsound.

“It’s an attack on our process of democracy. This did not go through a legislative process. This is a group of unelected officials,” Angela Connelly, president of the Washington Women’s Network, said of the rule and rule-making process. “We need to make sure that everyone is safe and everyone is protected. We need to go back and rethink this.”

The Washington Women’s Network is a women’s advocacy group that walked in the March for Life at the capitol earlier this month.

Loss of business; no protection

Paul MacLurg, owner of Thrive Community Fitness in Lacey, said he could lose business because of the rule. He also said he should be able to protect people within his business.

“Before this rule was in place the law allowed me to use my best judgment. Now, I have no good choices, no protection from the law,” said MacLurg. “This is not a gender issue. This is common sense, safety, decency and a privacy issue.”

Opponents said repealing the rule would put transgender people, who are at a higher risk of sexual assault than other people, in more danger. They also said the 2006 law has not resulted in problems that proponents are worried about.

“Trans people are already a part of your community. It is understandably easy to fear the unknown, but we must appeal to our better nature and confront fear with facts,” said Jennifer Popkin of Seattle. “Transgender women like me are women. On a personal level I can’t imagine using a men’s bathroom.”

‘She is deserving of respect and protection’

Ryan Trainer of Federal Way said his young daughter is transgender.

“She is who she is and she arrived this way whether we knew it or not,” he told the committee. “She is deserving of respect and protection just like all of the children in Washington State. My transgender child is not a threat, nor will she be when she grows up into a beautiful transgender woman.”

Lindstrand said the commission held four public meetings and one public-comment meeting to create the rule. By law, the commission is required to hold one public meeting and one public-comment meeting before registering rules.

A question-and-answer document created by the commission said, “The rules do not protect persons who go into a restroom or locker room under false pretenses. … The rules do not prohibit asking legitimate questions about a person’s presence in a gender segregated facility.”

At an executive session later Wednesday, Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, chairperson of the Labor and Commerce Committee, said, “This is a very challenging subject matter. I do think everyone in our state deserves rights and protections. The challenge here is how to protect everyone”

Sen. Steve Conway, D-South Tacoma, said, “The bill you’re passing here basically is prohibiting this commission from ever taking up this issue again. I find we are running at an issue because of people’s fears. We should all be cautious when moving too quickly with issues like this. We should really be careful with what we’re doing.”