Tag Archives: bathroom

Nashville approves unisex restrooms for businesses

Nashville businesses with single-toilet restrooms are no longer required to have one facility specifically for women and another just for men, reports The Tennessean.

The Metro Council voted unanimously on a final of three readings Tuesday to broaden exceptions for unisex restrooms, which are only allowed in Nashville businesses that fall below a square-footage threshold.

The ordinance was introduced by Councilman Brett Withers, who filed the bill last month after learning that the owners of Wild Cow, a vegetarian restaurant in his East Nashville district, were warned by Metro codes inspectors that they could not have unisex restrooms in a new restaurant the couple is planning nearby called Graze.

He said he later learned that several restaurants and businesses were technically in violation of a law that few realized existed.

“This just allows businesses who choose to do so to go ahead and make all of their single-user restroom facilities available to males and females,” Withers said.

“It (also) accommodates folks who might be transgender or might have a gender expression that doesn’t line up with traditional gender expectations in terms of hair style or clothing style,” said Withers, who is one of two openly gay members on the council. “It helps people to avoid having that kind of discussion or examination.”

The new law, which was signed by Mayor Megan Barry on Wednesday, authorizes unisex restrooms at most businesses that have two or more bathroom facilities that each consist of single toilets and have locks..

Rep. Lynn gets celebrity slap at Bonnaroo

State Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, sponsor of Tennessee’s controversial transgender bathroom bill, was directly targeted for celebrity criticism at the Bonnaroo concert by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, reports The Tennessean.

“Susan Lynn — she’s promised to bring it back when the session resumes in the fall,” Vedder said from stage to the thousands gathered to hear the headlining set at the four-day music festival.

“Well Susan, I don’t know Susan, do you know Susan?,” Vedder asked the locals in the crowd. “She’s your representative. You want her to represent you, yeah?

“Susan, I’m just going to say something as nice as I can to Susan.

“Dear Susan: Susan there’s a timeline right? This is the present. You’re all in the present. I can see you’re in present. I am in the present. This is past. And that’s the future is this way. You don’t want to preclude us from getting into the future. I want you to be on the right side of the future.

“Because this generation, this generation, and the ones to come they’re more tolerant, they’re more understanding, they’re more empathetic of others. And Susan you can either be part of history or you can be history. These people want you to make the right decision, am I correct?

“Let Susan know,” he pled to the crowd, who cheered and clapped.

“Susan’s made a promise to do this, we want to tell Susan: Susan, look, it’s OK in this case to break your promise. You’d be very proud, I believe.”

Then the band launched into their hit Daughter.

Black Encounters Saudi Bathroom Blackout

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In a trip to Saudi Arabia with other congressmen (and congresswomen), reports The Tennessean, U.S. Rep. Diane Black had a gender discrimination experience.
When the lawmakers asked to use the bathroom after a lengthy visit to the Saudi Defense Ministry, they ran into an unexpected challenge: no women’s restroom.
“It was kind of like, hmm, OK, I’ve heard about oppression, but really there are just some things that are natural and biological,” Black, a former nurse, said with a laugh in an interview last week.
The male lawmakers on the trip offered to stand outside the men’s restroom while the women used it. But the Saudis seemed to frown on that, so the congresswomen decided they’d just wait.
(The Defense Ministry, the story says, had no women employees.)

Watson Scuttles Transgender Bathroom Bill

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Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, on Thursday withdrew the Senate version of a controversial House measure requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms and dressing rooms that match their birth gender, reports Andy Sher.
Watson, who is chairman of the Hamilton County legislative delegation, said he sponsored the bill as a standard courtesy to local House members. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga.
“I understand Rep. Floyd’s passion about the issue, but we have more pressing issues before us that we need to focus our attention on and we don’t need to get sidetracked,” Watson said.
Floyd said earlier Thursday he introduced the bill after reading a news story about a Texas woman who said she was fired from Macy’s after stopping a male teen dressed as a woman from using a dressing room.
“It could happen here,” Floyd said. “I believe if I was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there — I don’t care if he thinks he’s a woman and tries on clothes with them in there — I’d just try to stomp a mudhole in him and then stomp him dry.
“Don’t ask me to adjust to their perverted way of thinking and put my family at risk,” he said. “We cannot continue to let these people dominate how society acts and reacts. Now if somebody thinks he’s a woman and he’s a man and wants to try on women’s clothes, let him take them into the men’s bathroom or dressing room.”
The bill would charge violators with a misdemeanor carrying a $50 fine.
Note: Previous post HERE.

Bill Mandates Transgender Use of Birth Gender Bathroom

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A Chattanooga lawmaker says he makes no apologies for his bill that prohibits transgender people from using use public bathrooms and dressing rooms that don’t match the gender listed on their birth certificates, reports the Chattanooga TFP.
Rep. Richard Floyd, R-Chattanooga, said today he introduced the bill after reading a news article about a Texas woman who said she was fired from Macy’s after blocking a male teen dressed as a woman from using a dressing room.
“It could happen here,” Floyd said. “I believe if I was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there — I don’t care if he thinks he’s a woman and tries on clothes with them in there — I’d just try to stomp a mudhole in him and then stomp him dry.”
Floyd’s bill, sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, in the Senate, makes such acts a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a $50 fine.
The legislation is already triggering condemnation in the gay and liberal blogosphere.
Jonathan Cole of the Tennessee Equality Project, dubbed it the “Police the Potty” bill, noting state law already prohibits anyone born in the state from amending their gender of birth certificates.
Note: A news release on the matter from the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition is below.

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