The Austin City Council directed the city manager to look into remodeling city-owned facilities in a way that is “both gender inclusive and compliant with Texas Senate Bill 8,” according to a resolution passed in December.
SB 8, also known as “the bathroom bill,” took effect last month and requires public agencies to ensure “multiple-occupancy private spaces,” like bathrooms with multiple stalls, are only used by one biological sex. To comply with the new law, the city council asked the city manager to research potential changes to the bathrooms Austin maintains. Steven Rivas, a member of the city’s LGBTQ Quality of Life Advisory Commission, said the discussion within the city council focused on expanding single-occupancy private spaces, such as in restrooms.
Council Member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, who represents most of UT and West Campus, is one of the resolution’s sponsors. He wrote in an email that its approval was “an important step forward” for the city.
“This resolution affirms Austin’s values and our commitment to dignity, privacy, and safety for LGBTQ+ community members, especially trans and gender nonconforming Austinites,” Qadri wrote. “It makes clear that the City will continue to stand up for inclusion even as harmful policies move forward at the state level.”
Rivas said it will take a couple of months to survey the vast network of Austin facilities and assess where the city can best focus its efforts. City manager T.C. Broadnax will present his findings to the Council in March, and then the institution will look into next steps.
Rivas said there will be events that cause high flow across city facilities in March. This is also the time when the city budget process begins, he said.
“All of this kind of comes together for us to begin to put the pieces of how we will pay in the future for some of these facility changes that we’ve talked about,” Rivas said. “Austin responded quickly, responsibly and thoughtfully. We’re following the law, protecting privacy and refusing to turn public spaces into places where people feel watched or unsafe for being who they are.”
The council may take further action to encourage the provision of acceptable gender-inclusive options at local facilities not owned by the city, according to the resolution. Brigitte Bandit, a local drag queen and activist, said this resolution helps not only protect transgender people, but also government buildings from potentially being fined or accused of allowing a person into a bathroom that doesn’t align with their gender.
Although this resolution is a step in the right direction, Bandit said they will continue to pressure the council to stick to its word.
“We need to make sure that trans Texans feel seen and supported as much as we can, especially with these state attacks,” Bandit said. “It felt good. It gave me a little hope in a very dark time.”
