Proposed restroom ordinance dies in Rockwall

(ROCKWALL, TX – May 3, 2016) Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt’s motion to approve his proposed citywide restroom ordinance – which called for the regulation of restrooms through birth sex identification – failed to pass during the Rockwall city council meeting on Monday, May 2 held at Rockwall City Hall (385 S Goliad St). The meeting saw a large crowd pack the City Hall to have their say either for or against the controversial ordinance during an open forum conducted by the city council.

Pruitt proposed the ordinance after an announcement released by Target on April 19 stated that it would allow transgender men and women to use the restroom and fitting room corresponding with their gender identities. The policy has created much debate throughout the country, particularly concerning citizens’ civil rights, gender identity and privacy, as well as the security and protection of women and children from sexual predators.

The ordinance proposed having people use the appropriate restroom according to the gender identification found on their birth certificate; if a person’s birth certificate identifies him as male, that person would have to use the men’s restroom and vice versa.

Pruitt’s stance on the proposed ordinance stemmed from the obligation of the city to protect its residents at all costs, that it was purely a security issue and would be worth the effort to pass it if it meant that one woman or child could be saved.

“Based on the number of people I have heard from within this past week, this community wants to discourage men from going into women’s restrooms and dressing rooms, and vice versa,” Pruitt said. “There are obvious exceptions to that which I believe the ordinance has covered very adequately. If this ordinance saves one woman or child from being molested because a concerned citizen reported a predator lurking in a restroom, then our efforts are life changing for that one woman or child.

“This is about nothing more than the safety of our community, and we as councilmen have a duty to do everything we can to keep our community safe.”

Peter Flores, a member of the Rockwall Housing Development Corporation and 11-year Rockwall resident, expressed his concern for the safety of his children and how the ordinance would help protect them and many other Rockwall children from intentional or unintentional indecent exposure, as well as from sexual predators who might take advantage of being able to enter a restroom of the opposite sex without challenge.

“As a father of two young children, I do not want them exposed to genitalia of the opposite sex in a public restroom,” Flores said. “This position is not ill-willed, it is simply a concern for my wife and children who will be exposed to nudity and that they will be rendered more vulnerable to potential predators. Therefore, I would like to convey to the many other voices in the City of Rockwall the approval of this ordinance to protect our families.”

A young adult named Alex, who identified himself as a transgender male, spoke to the council during the open forum on how the ordinance discriminates against transgender individuals and forces them into an uncomfortable situation.

“Transgender people already have a lot to deal with, and the bathroom situation just makes it even worse,” Alex said. “It really just makes someone not feel right. I’m a human, and I just want to use the restroom. We will not hurt you, we just want to use the restroom.”

While many of the protestors addressing the council cited the bill’s unfair prejudice against members of the LGBT (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) community, the issue that Pruitt’s fellow council members had with the ordinance was its unenforceability.

“The individual will always have access to their birth certificate, but under the Family Code birth certificates are confidential records,” said Assistant City Manager Brad Griggs.

Taking that information into account, Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Lewis said he was against the ordinance and didn’t believe the council could amend it in a way that would rectify the enforcement issue while still adequately protecting women and children.

“There’s never been a perfect ordinance nor a perfect law written,” Lewis said. “I don’t know that we can ever get the ordinance there to see the protection I’d like to see for my wife, daughters and grandchildren. I think with the way this ordinance is written that it has a huge enforcement problem, and because of that I’m against this ordinance.”

City councilman David White agreed that while Pruitt had good intentions with regards to protecting the public, the ordinance simply could not be enforced without infringing on the rights and privacy of citizens.

“With all due respect to Mayor Pruitt, this ordinance was not well thought out,” White said. “I do think it was well-intentioned, but it’s completely, 100 percent unenforceable without severe increase in government intrusion in people’s lives. We don’t need police officers asking people in line for the bathroom for their IDs. We don’t need that from the government or from our fellow citizens. Adults have the right to live the way they choose so long as it does not interfere with my right to live as I choose.”

The meeting adjourned after Pruitt’s motion to approve the ordinance was not seconded.

Story by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News editor. Photos by Austin Wells and Richard Redig. 

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