On Oct. 14, the Eugene City Council heard public debate on two proposals from the Human Rights Commission concerning gay, lesbian and transgender citizens. Anywhere that gay rights are concerned, the city has to contend with extreme-right groups who say that any proposals that advance equality for homosexuals are an “affront to God.”
The proposals would set up a domestic partner registry and require that businesses allow those who identify with an opposite gender to use the restroom facilities of that gender. Both should be made city law.
The proposal for a domestic registry is a tolerant first step. It is not a marriage, and it does not guarantee domestic partners benefits commensurate with what a spouse would receive. However, many civil-rights gestures started symbolically. One has only to look at the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to see how a symbolic gesture eventually became a social movement.
While we do not harbor any illusions that the domestic registry will substantially decrease dislike of or violence against gays, we do think the program generally will increase tolerance for non-heterosexual couples. By showing the community as a whole that other couples are also capable of being loving families, perhaps the taboos will be further eroded.
Allowing transgender people to use restroom facilities of the gender they identify with simply makes sense.
Some people opposed to the commission’s resolution said they would feel extremely uncomfortable if a person of the opposite gender were to walk into their restroom. But many transgender people do not “appear” to be their birth gender. Opponents would feel even more uncomfortable if someone who appeared to be a man was forced to use a women’s restroom simply because he had a vagina.
Other opponents were outraged that, as they said, “predators” were being granted access to commit sexual assaults. There are two problems with this.
For one, transgender people are not more likely to be “predators” than any other demographic. This is an old slander that needs to die. Second, a “women” sign on a restroom door won’t stop predators intent upon assault, regardless of their gender.
The benefits of this proposal — allowing transgender people, who encompass a wide range of physical and psychological difference, to feel and behave as if they were full members of our community — far outweigh the potential for others to feel uncomfortable.
Both of these proposals are smart, tolerant public policy, and the majority of Eugeneans at public hearings supported them. City Council should pass them both.