Outward

Oxford, Alabama, Repeals Ban on Trans Bathroom Usage

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Oxford, Alabama, put a pin in the legislation. For now.

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In a special meeting Wednesday, the city of Oxford, Alabama, repealed the ordinance it had unanimously approved just last Tuesday, barring trans people from using any public bathroom that doesn’t match the sex indicated on their birth certificate. Trans people who violated the ordinance faced up to six months in prison. As Mark Joseph Stern pointed out last week, “Because changing one’s birth certificate is difficult in many states (including Alabama) and impossible in others, the measure effectively proscribes trans people in Oxford from using any bathroom outside of their house.”

According to reporters from the local Anniston Star, two council members requested the meeting because of concerns that the measure’s incompatibility with Title IX might prevent high-school sports teams from playing in local parks and city-owned facilities. Since the mayor had not yet signed the ordinance (because he “is not in good health,” according to one council member), it was “available for recall.”

Although the council voted 3–2 for recall, the tone was one of resistance. Council President Steven Waits, who voted to keep it in effect, denounced “political correctness,” and claimed that bathrooms were designed to accommodate “biological” men and women and that the law had been passed to protect public safety. (Which, it bears saying one more time, is a manufactured fear with no basis in fact.)

While noting the possibility of a legal challenge—according to BuzzFeed, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center had “sent the city council a stern letter warning of the city’s legal liability”—Waits said, “I, for one, am up for that battle.” He also warned that he had heard from “Christian voters in Oxford” that council members who voted in favor of the recall wouldn’t be re-elected. Nor should the legislation be considered dead: Council members noted that they would now be meeting with lawyers to re-examine, and possibly reintroduce, the ordinance.