CIVIL RIGHTS
LGBTQ Orgs Push Cuomo on Gender-Neutral Bathrooms
Governor has just days to act on O’Donnell-Salazar bill regarding single-stall facilities
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
More than 100 New
York LGBTQ groups
have issued an open
letter to Governor
Andrew Cuomo urging him to sign
a law before next week making all
public single-stall restrooms statewide
open to people of all genders.
Under the “Gender-neutral
bathrooms” bill or A.5240/S.6479,
restaurants, bars, schools, colleges,
and other public spaces are
required to remove sex-segregated
signage like “male” and “female”
from single-occupancy restrooms.
This legislation is another move to
end discrimination and harassment
against trans and non-binary
people in public restrooms.
The bill’s sponsors in the State
Senate is Brooklyn’s Julia Salazar,
while out gay Assembly member
Daniel O’Donnell, representing the
Out gay Manhattan State Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell is pressing Governor Andrew Cuomo to
sign legislation he says will not cost anybody anything.
69th district on Manhattan’s West
Side, authored the bill.
He said the measure requires a
relatively simple switch.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
“This doesn’t cost anybody any
money,” O’Donnell told Gay City
News. “If you have two bathrooms
in your restaurant — one that says
“M” and one that says “W” — if you
unscrew the “M” and the “W,” then
you’ve complied with the law.”
O’Donnell introduced the bill
in 2017 after a wave of anti-trans
bathroom bills circulated in the
US. In 2016, North Carolina approved
controversial legislation
that banned people from using a
bathroom different from the sex
listed on their birth certifi cate.
Over the summer, the bill passed
unanimously in the State Assembly.
O’Donnell’s offi ce said Cuomo
received the legislation last Friday.
Now, he has until next week to sign
or veto it. If he takes no action, the
bill will die.
O’Donnell said he has not spoken
with the governor’s offi ce and
is unsure what objections Cuomo
might have to the bill. There has
been a history of pushback from
➤ BATHROOMS, continued on p.25
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December 17 - December 30, 2 2 020 | GayCityNews.com
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