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Indy Councilor Wants More Discussion Of Gender-neutral Bathrooms

Ted Eytan
/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/15553723907

A week after voters in Houston, Texas rejected the idea, an Indianapolis city-county councilman says he wants to explore the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms in the city.

Cities such as Austin, Berkeley, Philadelphia, Santa Fe and Seattle have already approved legislation that calls for more single-user, all-gender public restrooms.

Indianapolis City-County Councilman Zach Adamson says gender-neutral bathrooms are part of a broad swath of equality and human rights he feels should become public accommodations.

“Eventually, we may get over our insecurities over clear and definite lines of typical male/female roles, male/female regulations and segregations and we’ll all just be people,” Adamson says. “Ultimately, whether it comes to Indiana or not, we’ll probably just be more around the human rights issue.”

In Houston, the issue was painted as one where men claiming to be transgender could enter the same bathroom as women and voters resoundingly shot it down.

Adamson says he cannot point to any examples where such facilities would pose threats to anyone, though he says there may be a need to better police how children use public restrooms in general.

“If you have children who are going to the bathroom by themselves, if they are of that dangerous age then why are you leaving them unattended in a bathroom where there are strangers at all, of any gender?” Adamson says. “That’s the bigger question to me.”

Adamson says he’s focused on the safety of the transgender community, which he says has reported issues of harassment and violence when using public accommodations. 

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