Alabama city withdraws bathroom privacy ordinance after LGBT pressure
A city in
Alabama has recalled the ordinance it passed last week making it illegal for
men to access women’s bathrooms.
In the wake
of Target’s new policy allowing men to access women’s bathrooms and vice versa,
the city of Oxford, Alabama passed an ordinance prohibiting
people to access bathrooms designated for the opposite sex, with an exception
for parents accompanying small children, janitors, and emergency
responders.
The Oxford
City Council passed the ordinance in response to an “overwhelming” number of
complaints about Oxford’s Target, City Council President Steven Waits
said. But in a special meeting Wednesday, council members voted 3-2 to
repeal the ordinance, which had not yet been signed by the town’s mayor.
Council
President Steven Waits and Councilman Chris Spurlin voted in favor of keeping
the ordinance. Councilwoman Charlotte Hubbard, Councilman Phil Gardner,
and Councilman Mike Henderson voted to withdraw the ordinance.
Previously, council had unanimously voted
in favor of the ordinance.
Upon the
passing of the ordinance, Oxford faced a flurry of scrutiny from LGBT advocates
and the media for being “anti-transgender.”
AL.com
reported that the special council meeting was packed and Waits’ and Spurlin’s
comments received applause and approval from the audience.
The council
members who voted to rescind the ordinance cited the possibility of the
ordinance being incompatible with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on
the basis of sex in federally funded schools. The Obama administration
recently said that North Carolina’s bathroom privacy law is in violation of Title IX.
