New Ordinance Would Make All Single-Occupancy Restrooms Gender Neutral

Supervisor David Campos announced Monday he would introduce the legislation at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. The proposed legislation would require all city businesses to change signage making all single-occupant restrooms for neither men nor women exclusively.

The switch will benefit transgender and gender non-conforming people who might face harassment while trying to use the restroom as well as women who often face longer lines for public restrooms, parents taking their children to the restroom and disabled people with caretakers, according to Campos’s office.

If it passes, San Francisco would join the cities of Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Austin, West Hollywood, Berkeley and New York in enacting such legislation, according to Campos.
Campos says his law will have better mechanisms for enforcement through the city Human Rights Commission and the Department of Building Inspections.

Campos consulted with the Oakland-based Transgender Law Center in drafting the legislation, which has garnered the support of San Francisco advocacy group Senior and Disability Action.

“This legislation, the most comprehensive of its kind in the country, will help ensure that all San Franciscans can use the bathroom without fear of harassment or discrimination,” Transgender Law Center executive director Kris Hayashi said.

Senior and Disability Action director Jessica Lehman said, “People with disabilities and seniors sometimes need assistance from an attendant or family member to use a bathroom. If that person is of a different gender, it is complicated to decide whether to use the men’s or women’s bathroom, and people can be uncomfortable or unsafe going into a different bathroom.”

Man Tries to Steal Teen’s Shoes at Knifepoint on MUNI Bus

A man pulled a knife on a teenage boy on a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus after the boy told him to quiet down on Saturday night, police said.

The 14-year-old victim was riding the Muni bus at Park Presidio Boulevard and Geary Street at 9:10 p.m. when he told the suspect, believed to be in his 20s, to quiet down. The man approached the boy, pulled out a knife and put it to his chest, demanding his shoes. He then lifted the knife to the boy’s throat and demanded his cellphone.

The assailant made off with the boy’s cellphone, but not his shoes. The victim was uninjured, police said. Police have not arrested the man and provided no further description of him.

(News by Bay City News)