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LOCAL News :: Gender and Sexuality
Baltimore Gay Bar Ousts Transman from Bathroom, Outrage the Result
Author
- Baltimore Team Trans
Date Created
- 06 Feb 2009
Date Edited
- 06 Feb 2009 09:23:23 PM
License
This work is in the public domain.
The forcible removal of a transman from the men's bathroom by the staff of a Baltimore gay bar on January 30 has sparked outrage and organizing.
On Friday, January 30th, a transgender man was forcibly removed from the men's bathroom of Club Hippo, a Baltimore gay bar, leading transgender activists to call for equal bathroom rights and the dissolution of gender-segregated spaces.
The incident occurred on the night of a drag king performance by the Charm City Boys at Club Hippo, when one of the performers entered the bathroom and was followed by a staff member and then forcibly removed. He was told by the staff member and the head of security that he must use the women's room unless he had a penis. The manager of the bar stated the bar's policy is that a person must have a penis to use the men's bathroom.
Phalloplasty, the surgical construction of a penis, is a procedure that costs nearly $100,000 and is considered undesirable by many transsexual men.
Discrimination against transgender people is illegal in the city of Baltimore. Council Bill 02-0857, signed into law by Mayor Martin O'Malley in 2002, prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. According to the Baltimore Community Relations Commission, which oversees discrimination complaints, this clause includes equal access to bathrooms.
In response, some patrons are calling for the creation of a unisex bathroom at Club Hippo. Baltimore Team Trans, a group formed in response to the incident, wants to go farther. If the Hippo creates a gender-neutral bathroom and continues to police their other bathrooms, the separation would reinforce the idea that the "normal" bathrooms are for non-trans people only. Staff and non-trans patrons would feel even more entitled to oust trans people because, they would say, "You have your own bathrooms."
Baltimore Team Trans, a group working to persuade Club Hippo to change its bathroom policies, sees the incident as symptomatic of wider social issues. "We are dedicated to overturning transphobic and gender-segregated spaces, one bathroom at a time," states their website, teamtrans.blogspot.com.
Baltimore Team Trans
bmore.trans-AT-gmail.com
teamtrans.blogspot.com
The incident occurred on the night of a drag king performance by the Charm City Boys at Club Hippo, when one of the performers entered the bathroom and was followed by a staff member and then forcibly removed. He was told by the staff member and the head of security that he must use the women's room unless he had a penis. The manager of the bar stated the bar's policy is that a person must have a penis to use the men's bathroom.
Phalloplasty, the surgical construction of a penis, is a procedure that costs nearly $100,000 and is considered undesirable by many transsexual men.
Discrimination against transgender people is illegal in the city of Baltimore. Council Bill 02-0857, signed into law by Mayor Martin O'Malley in 2002, prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. According to the Baltimore Community Relations Commission, which oversees discrimination complaints, this clause includes equal access to bathrooms.
In response, some patrons are calling for the creation of a unisex bathroom at Club Hippo. Baltimore Team Trans, a group formed in response to the incident, wants to go farther. If the Hippo creates a gender-neutral bathroom and continues to police their other bathrooms, the separation would reinforce the idea that the "normal" bathrooms are for non-trans people only. Staff and non-trans patrons would feel even more entitled to oust trans people because, they would say, "You have your own bathrooms."
Baltimore Team Trans, a group working to persuade Club Hippo to change its bathroom policies, sees the incident as symptomatic of wider social issues. "We are dedicated to overturning transphobic and gender-segregated spaces, one bathroom at a time," states their website, teamtrans.blogspot.com.
Baltimore Team Trans
bmore.trans-AT-gmail.com
teamtrans.blogspot.com
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