In one Alabama town it is now a crime for transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice.
In response to complaints from residents over Target’s announcement that transgender employees and customers are able to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, the city council in Oxford, Alabama, passed a bathroom measure that would slap people with a $500 fine and six months in jail, according to the Anniston Star.
The city council passed the measure on Tuesday, directing people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to their birth sex, and making the violation of the new law a misdemeanor crime.
Steven Waits, the president of the city council, said that the measure is aimed at protecting women and children and was not passed “out of concerns for the 0.3 percent of the population who identify as transgender,” according to the Anniston Star. He said that the council moved on the measure in response to Target’s announcement after complaints from Oxford residents, according to the Anniston Star.
The Oxford police chief, Bill Partridge, said that the violating the law would be a misdemeanor crime, according to AL.com. He said that police will enforce it with the same approach used for laws regulating noise and public indecency.
“If somebody sees something that makes them uncomfortable, they would call the police,” he said, according to AL.com. “If the person is still there when the officer arrives, the officer has to witness the crime. Then we take down the person’s information, and the person who reported it has to sign out a warrant.”
The Oxford city measure comes after a North Carolina law that keeps transgender people form using the public bathroom of their choice sparked a national discussion about “bathroom bills” and transgender rights.
