Texas city expands $10,000 ‘bounty’ on trans people using ‘wrong’ bathroom
Odessa City Council has expanded its anti-trans bathroom ordinance. (Getty)
A Texas city that is already offering a $10,000 (£7,900) reward to anyone turning in trans people using a public toilet that corresponded with their gender identity, has made the restrictions even more stringent.
At a meeting on Tuesday (12 November), Odessa City Council tightened the regulations surrounding a 1989 ordinance which already said anyone identifying a trans person in the “wrong” toilets might be able to claim $10,000 in damages.
Now, by a vote of 5-1 vote, the council members agreed to expand the ordinance to private facilities too. The move means civil penalties and trespassing charges can be enforced against anyone who knowingly uses a toilet not matching their birth gender in any city buildings.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas argued that the expansion not only infringed on the freedoms of trans people, but it probably violated Texas laws.
In an open letter, the ACLU said the city did not “provide adequate notice to business owners and Odessa residents that the local government was exposing them to immense liability on private property”.
The letter goes on to say: “Transgender people live and thrive in Odessa, just as they do across our state. The proposed amendments threaten to deny them access to both public and private spaces and will lead to extreme gender policing, legal liability and discrimination against the people of Odessa.
“We urge you to reject such a cruel, irrational and harmful policy, and to uphold your responsibility to protect the rights and interests of every person, business and entity in the city.”
Concerns that the ordinance could flood courts with “frivolous lawsuits” are compounded by a lack of clarification or exceptions for disabled people, who might require assistance from someone of a different gender.
Odessa, as well as several states across the US that have passed similar bans, has never had a case of a transgender people harassing individuals in public toilets, according to the Washington Blade, and local police have not had a single report.
During public testimony on the ordinance, Alexander Ermels, the president of the local the chapter of PFLAG, branded it “a complete waste of the city’s time, money and resources”, adding: “It’s not addressing any real problem in our community.
“Instead, it’s creating one, making people worried about something that just is not an issue.”
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