Written Comments — Santa Monica City Council, April 25, 2023

1 Vernice Hankins
From: Joe Goldberg <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 5:12 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A- Gender Neutral Bathroom

EXTERNAL
Hello,
I am a Santa Monica resident (~10 years; 1324 14th St.) and I support the ordinance for gender neutral bathrooms. I urge the city council members to please support efforts to have gender neutral bathrooms throughout Santa Monica.

Thank you!
Joe Goldberg
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2 Vernice Hankins
From: Heather Nevell <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 4:56 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Oppose Gender Neutral Bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Hello,
As a member of the dem club I am writing inoppositionof gender neutral bathrooms .I agree with Council member , Lana Negrete, Phil Brock, and Oscar Del la Torre.

Our country, our state , our city , have modern day bathrooms for the reason of protecting females . Having separate bathrooms protects people while relieving themselves .

Further more having separate bathrooms also protects men from being accused of inappropriate behavior . Can you imagine how many calls will be made to the police for questionable acts ? Or will we then need to hire a constant attendant for the bathrooms ? How much will that cost ?
Why are we assuming men and woman want to share bathrooms ? Maybe men and boys don't want to share a bathroom with woman .

What about people from different religions that would be uncomfortable sharing an area with the opposite sex ? What about the mentally ill that us the bathrooms and have violent behaviors ? There is way too much to ponder .

We have separate family bathrooms in many places such as airports , that solves the issue without endangering people .

We can support transgender people without risking lawsuits , that this city doesn't have the money to pay for, potentially save someones life and not alienate the majority of people .Plain and simple separate bathrooms were created for a reason .

Honorable city council members, I want to point out the email sent by the Dem club referring to council members Brock, Negrete and De La Torre as conservatives in a manner that is used to create divisiveness .The continuous manner in which people who don't directly align themselves with the extreme left appear to be labeled gun‐toting, camouflage ‐ wearing, MAGA Trumper's is alienating to moderate democrats.Since the city of SM is mostly democratic ,it’s hard to understand why there is a “witch hunt" ‘ for conservatives or moderate liberals.

Here is the message sent by the Dem Club:

However, we were shocked to see this article appear in the local press: Councilmembers Concerned About Gender-Neutral Public Restrooms, in which three councilmembers give voice to transphobic talking points straight from Fox News and the far-right.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

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3  "I think there's a lot of concerns about having underage kids" sharing the bathrooms with adults of the opposite sex, said Councilmember Lana Negrete.  Negrete said she also worries about young women sharing bathrooms in bars. "Are we now putting people in positions that are more vulnerable for them?" she said. "I think we're getting into an area we haven't thoughtfully thought out."
 Councilmember Phil Brock agrees. "I don't think women will want to use them," he said. "It gives them no privacy."
 The item, he said, raises some questions: "Are we doing so much for (one group) that we're sacrificing everyone else? Are we going to lead to more sexual assaults?" These conservative councilmembers are using the same arguments as those we hear from Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, and other far-right politicians and talking heads. We expect to hear these talking points in the deep south, but not here in Santa Monica! Of course, we understand that these talking points are both fictitious and dangerous. Not only are gender-neutral restrooms safer for the transgender community, they are also helpful for single parents, caregivers, and the safety of women in general.

Here is my letter to the Dem Club :

I am interested in how the democratic club as a whole took the right to speak for all the members without some sort of education and vote.

This should not be a partisan issue , woman and girls should have their own bathrooms . We developed separate sex bathrooms to keep woman and girls safe . We invented sidewalks to keep pedestrians safe from getting ran over .

Now we have people walking in the streets in an effort to prevent disease??? It is 100% unacceptable to walk in the street when sidewalks are available or for woman and girls to share gender neutral bathrooms to have their safety threatened physically and emotionally and psychologically .We can’t even walk down most streets in Santa Monica without feeling we have to be on guard . Now you want us in the position of relieving ourselves and feeling threatened?
Check your facts and see how many transgender woman enter bathrooms all over the world and commit acts of violence .

This club will be on the wrong side of history and responsible for those crimes by supporting such a policy .

Here is one site that can help you : https://reduxx.info Regards,
Heather Nevell
PS This city should only be focusing on one thing at this moment , getting the homeless off the streets and opening our city to the residents who pay taxes to live in what was once beautiful and safe place to live . Furthermore we can not blame anything that is happening in the city to right wing politics . It’s our fault ,the Democrats. Shame on us.

Thank you for your time,
Heather Nevell
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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Leonora <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 1:00 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: item 10A on this Tuesday's City Council

EXTERNAL
I am writing to express my disagreement with the arguments against gender-neutral public restrooms that have recently been raised. Research has shown that gender-neutral restrooms do not increase the likelihood of sexual assaults or crime. Rather, they foster a sense of inclusivity for members of the trans and gender nonconforming communities who often face discrimination and harassment in gender-specific restrooms. It is crucial to prioritize inclusivity, equity, and the well-being of all individuals in our community, without resorting to assumptions that unfairly stigmatize a marginalized group. I urge the Councilmembers who have publicly spoken against gender-neutral bathrooms to reconsider their positions.

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April 25, 2023
Santa Monica City Council
Via email: [email protected]
RE: Agenda Item 10A: Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access Dear Council Members:

Last year, ACLU California Action proudly supported for SB 1194 (Allen), which allowed municipalities the option to require newly constructed public restrooms to be accessible to people of all genders. Today, on behalf of the ACLU of Southern California, I write to express support for your agenda item 10A and the associated proposed Santa Monica ordinance.

Making newly constructed public restrooms available to people of all genders will benefit parents with children of a different gender, people with disabilities accompanied by caregivers of a different gender, and people perceived as gender non-conforming.

The ACLU of Southern California receives numerous complaints every year from individuals who have had harrowing negative experiences when trying to use a public restroom because someone else deemed their gender “wrong” for the space. The individuals reporting such problems sometimes identify as nonbinary and/or transgender, but often are cisgender people whose physical appearance happened to diverge from someone else’s stereotyped view of what a woman (or a man) should look like. These reports range from verbal harassment, to being escorted out of the restroom and establishment, to physical violence-- which is most likely to befall Black transgender women. Although these types of treatment by business establishments often violate the Unruh Civil Rights Act, it is important to protect people from such traumatic experiences of conflict, discrimination, and harassment.

The ordinance, like underlying state law, prescribes detailed standards for constructing allgender restrooms so as to maximize privacy and safety for all users. Various institutions around the world have already safely and effectively set up multi-user as well as single-user all-gender public restrooms. For all of these reasons, we urge you to adopt the No Possibility of Significant Effect environmental finding and to introduce and pass the proposed ordinance.

Respectfully submitted,
Amanda C. Goad
Audrey Irmas Director, LGBTQ, Gender & Reproductive Justice Project Item 10.A
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1 Vernice Hankins
From: diana hinek <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 11:42 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: OPPOSE GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOMS

EXTERNAL
Dear Council Members,
As a resident of Santa Monica, Member of the Dem Club and mother of 4 children, I am writing to express my full opposition to the proposed gender neutral bathrooms in Santa Monica.

I fully support and echo the concerns expressed by council members Lana Negrete, Phil Brock, and Oscar De la Torre.

I don't think gender neutral bathrooms are the solution when it comes to finding a way to support our transgender community. In fact, it will only create more division, fear and discrimination. Public restrooms are used not only by adults, but also by children and minors. If grown ups feel unsafe and unprotected, imagine what a child may feel.

As a woman, I do not wish this change for myself and for the wellbeing of my family. Santa Monica is currently suffering from a massive homeless crisis, do you think the SMPD has enough resources to address the calls that for sure will receive if you approve gender neutral bathrooms? Shouldn't we focus on using these funds to solve bigger issues? The Housing crisis, our public schools are falling apart, according to the SMFD they are dealing with1800 homeless on a daily basis. Here we are discussing bathrooms...

I would also like to state that I dissent from the Dem Club accusations toward Council members Negrete, Brock, and De la Torre. I find the approach used by the Club immature, unprofessional and unjust.

Here is a portion of the newsletter:
three councilmembers give voice to transphobic talking points straight from Fox News and the far-right.

Here is an excerpt from the article:
 "I think there's a lot of concerns about having underage kids" sharing the bathrooms with adults of the opposite sex, said Councilmember Lana Negrete.  Negrete said she also worries about young women sharing bathrooms in bars. "Are we now putting people in positions that are more vulnerable for them?" she said. "I think we're getting into an area we haven't thoughtfully thought out."  Councilmember Phil Brock agrees. "I don't think women will want to use them," he said. "It gives them no privacy."
 The item, he said, raises some questions: "Are we doing so much for (one group) that we're sacrificing everyone else? Are we going to lead to more sexual assaults?" These conservative councilmembers are using the same arguments as those we hear from Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, and other far-right politicians and talking heads.

We expect to hear these talking points in the deep south, but not here in Santa Monica! Item 10.A
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2 Thank you for your attention and considering my full OPPOSITION to gender neutral bathrooms in Santa Monica.

Sincerely,
Diana
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3 Vernice Hankins
From: Debra Krizman <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 11:00 PM
To: Jesse Zwick; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; councilmtgitems; Caroline Torosis
Subject: Gender Neutral Bathrooms - Agenda item 10-A

EXTERNAL
I try to avoid the places that once had male/female restrooms and turned them into AllGender restrooms.

Why?
Because, no matter how advanced, men still haven't learned to flush, put the seat down, and pee in the toilet and not around it.

Sincerely,
Debra Young Krizman
310-880-8882
917-22nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90403
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From: karenalways <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 10:16 PM
To: Katharine Dreyfuss
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Re: Agenda Item 10.A "Gender Neutral Public Restroom access"

EXTERNAL
Way to advocate Mom!
On Sun, Apr 23, 2023 at 9:21 PM Katharine Dreyfuss <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear City Council members:

I am in support of your proposal to require gender neutral bathrooms in future developments in our city, providing that these bathrooms are designed to provide private compartments for all users. Public hand‐washing facilities can be safely shared by persons of mixed ages and genders. Access to sanitary lavatories is an essential public health service to Santa Monica residents, workers and visitors alike, whatever their genders. Hopefully, we can all learn to share such necessary facilities with respect for one another's privacy.

Thank you for proposing this access.

Sincerely,
Katharine Dreyfuss
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From: Katharine Dreyfuss <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 9:21 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Agenda Item 10.A "Gender Neutral Public Restroom access"

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council members:

Thank you for proposing this access.

Sincerely,
Katharine Dreyfuss
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From: Marilyn Schmitter <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2023 9:14 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Item 13O - Oppose

EXTERNAL
I promote gender neutral bathrooms
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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From: Kevin Shenkman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 9:07 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; councilmtgitems
Subject: 10-A - all gender restrooms

EXTERNAL
Councilmembers,
A lot has been said about all-gender restrooms -- much of it ignorant fear-mongering.

I hope that you will read the op-ed of someone who actually understands the issue for what it is -- written by my then-16- year-old and published in a few local/national media outlets. It addresses the need for all-gender restrooms, the effort to get an accessible all-gender restroom at Malibu High School, and the push for legislation mandating all-gender restrooms in schools (which Senator Newman has since introduced as SB760).

Links to that op-ed in a couple online publications is below:

Shenkman: Transgender Students Need to Pee Too (voiceofoc.org) Transgender students need to pee too (losangelesblade.com) Transgender students need to pee too
Special to the LA Blade
While other states actively seek to enshrine discrimination against transgender youth in their laws- California ...
-Kevin Shenkman
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From: Steve Hotchkiss <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:09 AM
To: Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; councilmtgitems
Subject: oppose Agenda Item 10-A - Gender Neutral Bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Hello, Please oppose gender neutral restrooms in the city of santa monica. My concerns are those shared by several of the council members.

Steve Hotchkiss
Mobile 310/293-5000
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From: Kim Drobny <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:00 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Item 130 - Oppose - REVISED w Address

EXTERNAL
Dear Councilmembers,
I oppose Item 130 mandating Gender Neutral Bathrooms as set forth in the plan. As a woman I am uncomfortable sharing bathroom facilities with men especially in large facilities. There are instances of workable neutral bathrooms in restaurants that work. But in a work place and or public facility like an airport it is inefficient and could be dangerous. The cost would be much higher too.

I recently went to the Academy Museum and alongside large gendered restrooms, there were non‐gender, wheel chair access, lockable closets. It was efficient and discreet.

Why should women have to give up their privacy and sense of safety in finding solutions to accommodate everyone in our community.

Please consider another approach. Sometimes, one size does not fit all.

Thank you
Kim Drobny
632 11th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90402
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4 Vernice Hankins
From: Kim Drobny <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:58 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 130 - Oppose

I recently went to the Academy Museum and alongside large gendered restrooms, there were non‐gender, wheel chair access, lockable closets. It was efficient and discreet.

Why should women have to give up their privacy and sense of safety in finding solutions to accommodate everyone in our community.

Please consider another approach. Sometimes, one size does not fit all.

Thank you
Kim
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From: Sam Cozolino <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:56 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 10A

EXTERNAL
My name is Sam Cozolino and I am a tenth grader at New Roads School. I urge the Council to vote in favor of Item 10A because transgender and non‐binary people are humans too and deserve the right to use the restroom. In first grade, someone kicked the stall door in. Afterwards, I did not feel safe to use public restrooms. At the age of ten, I had a medical emergency because I would not use the restroom for hours upon hours. The lack of non‐binary restrooms restricts an entire community to have to go through this experience. Statistics indicate that it is not transgender and non‐binary people harassing people, but rather heterosexual men. Many of my friends and classmates are gender fluid and they are struggling to be their true selves because prejudice has made people think of them as assaulters. Please vote yes on Item 10 A.

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From: B Onofre <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 1:35 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis
Subject: Re: Agenda Item 10-A Oppose Gender Neutral Bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council,
I Oppose Gender neutral bathrooms because they negatively affect the safety of children and young women.

Berenice Onofre, Ed.D., Santa Monica Resident
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From: Daniel Galamba <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 9:47 AM
To: Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Gleam Davis; councilmtgitems; Daniel Galamba
Subject: City Council Meeting Tuesday April 25, 2023 Agenda Item 10-A: Please oppose requiring gender neutral bathrooms in all future development

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council,
I request that you oppose Agenda Item 10‐A REQUIRING gender neutral bathrooms in all future development. This is a public safety issue. Requiring gender neutral bathrooms may cause many people including children and women not to use them for fear of being attacked or molested in them. This has been a problem recently and we do not need to make the problem worse.

Also requiring gender neutral bathrooms is not necessary because many bathrooms including those for handicapped people already are available for both men and women. In addition, high volume applications such as football and baseball stadiums do not lend themselves to gender neutral bathrooms and to require gender neutral bathrooms is not practical. As long as some bathrooms are available for both men and women requiring gender neutral bathrooms in all future development is not necessary and is counterproductive. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Dr. Daniel Galamba
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From: Daniel Hall <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:14 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A - Gender Neutral Restroom Ordinance Attachments: SB1194(Allen)PublicRestrooms,BuildingStandards_Support- Beverly Hills.PDF

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers,
Please see below for a letter co-authored by Natalya Zernitskaya, Danny Ivanov, and I submitted yesterday regarding Item 10A on tomorrow's agenda. As three LGBTQ+ millennials involved in local politics, we felt compelled to address some of the red herrings being circulated in the community in the press and on social media. Following the letter I have included extracts and key quotes from reputable research journals and news articles outlining how gender-neutral/inclusive restrooms, and yes, multi-stall gender neutral restrooms, are not just better for trans children and adults, but also cisgender women, minorities, caregivers, and the businesses who implement them. I also have included a letter of support for SB 1194 from the City of Beverly Hills. /start co-authored letter/
Santa Monica strives to be a diverse and inclusive city. That’s what so many of us love about this community and why so many of us, the three of us included, chose to make Santa Monica our home. At Tuesday’s Council meeting, the Santa Monica City Council will have the opportunity to take an important step towards becoming a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community by passing an ordinance to make newly constructed and renovated public restrooms gender neutral, as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by our very own Senator Ben Allen and co-sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

Gender neutral restrooms provide a safer experience for trans and gender non-conforming people. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that 70% of trans respondents in surveys reported being denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms. Gender neutral, multi-stall restrooms remove the stigma associated with using the perceived “wrong” restroom. Additionally, and just as importantly, gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

We caution against repetition of tropes and misinformation that have been debunked for decades; several concerns recently expressed by community members in the press and on social media about gender neutral restrooms are red herrings. Research does not support concerns around safety and privacy issues. In fact, multiple studies from venerable research institutions have debunked these myths over the past decade. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) includes “use of multiple-occupant, gender-neutral restroom facilities with lockable single occupant stalls” as a best policy for restrooms. So, this isn’t an item that staff hasn’t thoughtfully thought out. This issue is so widely supported that SB 1194 passed the California State Legislature unanimously in both the Senate and Assembly; not even Republicans opposed Santa Monica’s cosponsored legislation.

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2 We urge the Council to approve this common-sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. We must continue the work towards becoming the inclusive community that we all know we can and should be.
/end co-authored letter/
As I mentioned in my individual outreach to all of you yesterday (Sunday, April 23rd), I would be happy to connect offline to discuss any concerns and even bring you to several West Hollywood establishments that use multi-stall gender neutral restrooms effectively. As you know, I do this work professionally and am happy to provide insight, especially given my safety and sexual assault prevention background from the military. I would personally add the following links for your further research on transgender and gender-inclusive restroom issues:

American Academy of Pediatrics: "School Restroom and Locker Room Restrictions and Sexual Assault Risk Among Transgender Youth" in partnership with the Harvard T. H. Chan Population Health Sciences Social Epidemiology Working Group and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.  "Among transgender and gender nonbinary adolescents, lacking access to safe, gender identity– congruent restrooms and locker rooms is associated with psychological distress and negative peer attention. Peer victimization, including sexual harassment, is prevalent in this population."  "Using “unisex” facilities, often staff or nurse restrooms, likewise attracted “unwanted attention from peers and adults.”
 "After adjustment for potential confounders, in 3 of the 4 gender groups, youth who experienced restroom and locker room restrictions were significantly more likely to experience sexual assault than those whose facility use was not restricted. Specifically, restricted transgender boys had 1.26 (95% CI: 1.02–1.52; P = .042) times the adjusted sexual assault risk compared with nonrestricted transgender boys, restricted nonbinary AFAB youth had 1.42 (95% CI: 1.10–1.78; P = .012) times the adjusted risk compared with nonbinary AFAB youth without restrictions, and restricted transgender girls had 2.49 (95% CI: 1.11–4.28; P = .027) times the adjusted risk compared with nonrestricted transgender girls."
 Although we cannot determine if the restrictions themselves affected safety, it appears that using a single-person facility (eg, a staff restroom) may not fully address the risks associated with restrictions. We found evidence for 1 potential mechanism for victimization outside restrooms and locker rooms: restroom and locker room restrictions may put students at risk by “outing” them as transgender."
USA Today, "The imaginary predator in America's transgender bathroom war"  " The bathroom is a bastion of segregation. It's where we sort people. Civil rights battles have been fought there before — over blacks, over women, over people with disabilities."  "The National Center for Transgender Equality, the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union say there is no statistical evidence of violence to justify the laws. They argue the bills are irrational, conflict with federal law and veritably endanger trans people. A slew of corporations, from Target to PayPal, agree."
 "Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project, says the solution to the modesty problem is not to expel people from public spaces, but to do a better job with privacy protections. "We can take measures to protect privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms and other public spaces for the people who, for any number of reasons, including young people who have experienced trauma, need it," Strangio said."
Rutgers University, "Gender-Neutral Restrooms Make Women, Minorities, Feel Safer, More Included, Rutgers Study Finds."
 "Action taken to make one group feel safer can make other groups feel safer." Item 10.A
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3  "The debate about bathrooms has been mainly about transgender people, and not enough people in our society care how they feel," [social psychologist Diana Sanchez] said, "but this study shows that such signs benefit women and minorities because they reveal that the organization has a more egalitarian attitude."
Sexuality Research and Social Policy Journal, "Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: a Review of Evidence Regarding Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms, Locker Rooms, and Changing Rooms"
 "This study presents findings from matched pairs analyses of localities in Massachusetts with and without gender identity inclusive public accommodation nondiscrimination ordinances. Data come from public record requests of criminal incident reports related to assault, sex crimes, and voyeurism in public restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms to measure safety and privacy violations in these spaces. This study finds that the passage of such laws is not related to the number or frequency of criminal incidents in these spaces. Additionally, the study finds that reports of privacy and safety violations in public restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms are exceedingly rare. This study provides evidence that fears of increased safety and privacy violations as a result of nondiscrimination laws are not empirically grounded."
Behavioural Public Policy Journal, "The gender-neutral bathroom: a new frame and some nudges" by Cambridge University Press
 From the Abstract: " Gender-neutral bathrooms are usually framed as an accommodation for trans and other gender-nonconforming individuals. In this paper, we show that the benefits of gender-neutral bathrooms are much broader. First, our simulations show that gender-neutral bathrooms reduce average waiting times: while waiting times for women go down invariably, waiting times for men either go down or slightly increase depending on usage intensity, occupancy-time differentials and the presence of urinals. Second, our result can be turned on its head: firms have an opportunity to reduce the number of facilities and cut costs by making them all gender-neutral without increasing waiting times. These observations can be used to reframe the gender-neutral bathrooms debate so that they appeal to a larger constituency, cutting across the usual dividing lines in the ‘bathroom wars’. Finally, there are improved designs and behavioural strategies that can help overcome resistance. We explore what strategies can be invoked to mitigate the objections that gender-neutral bathrooms (1) are unsafe, (2) elicit discomfort and (3) are unhygienic." Letter of Support for SB 1194 from the City of Beverly Hills, California (see attached)  "The City of Beverly Hills is proud to SUPPORT SB 1194, your measure to authorize a city or county to use its local authority to require that multi-stall public toilet facilities be designed, constructed, and identified for use by all genders. Clean, accessible, and safe restrooms are a universal need.

Your measure will ensure that the City has sufficient authority to ensure that public restrooms are available to residents and visitors."
 "SB 1194 will help cities and counties meaningfully build on their commitment to create safe and accessible environments for transgender and gender non conforming people as well as people with disabilities and personal caregivers for children and adults. For these reasons, the city is proud to SUPPORT SB 1194."
Thank you for your consideration and support of this item, please reach out at any time, you have my number.

Dan Hall
Gay Veteran and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Professional Vice President of Political Action, Santa Monica Democratic Club Item 10.A
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From: deeonn la <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 12:22 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Agenda Item 10A - Support of Ordinance Adding Gender Neutral Bathroom Access for New Construction in Santa Monica

EXTERNAL
Dear Council Members,
I am writing in support of an ordinance adding gender neutral bathroom access for new construction in Santa Monica. If we get past all of the rhetoric, it seems obvious to me and others that Santa Monica can and should require gender neutral bathrooms and they can be designed in a manner which is inclusive, private and safe. In looking at the sample plan 2 provided by staff, I would suggest 2 entrances, which will allow those who want to use the urinals to enter through one entrance and those who want to use the vanity area to enter through another entrance. Obviously, anyone can choose to enter through either entrance. I also think that one of the permissible options should include multiple single stall gender neutral bathrooms.

Regards,
DeAnne Ozaki, Santa Monca Resident
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From: Anastasia Foster <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 11:37 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers,
Though you know me as the Chair of the Rent Board, I'm writing in my personal capacity. I work with the elderly in my professional and philanthropic life, and I am a single mother. I agree with and gladly defer to my LGBTQ+ friends and colleagues to cite the numerous and robust studies finding gender neutral restrooms safe and effective at preventing harm to our trans and gender non-conforming communities, but I'd like to highlight other reasons to support.

As a single mother with a child of the opposite gender, I very much value the proposed facilities as a way to take my child to the restroom. And caregivers with an opposite sex elderly or disabled person in their charge have been in favor of this for many, many years.

Our City sponsored this legislation with Senator Allen with the blessing of the Council in 2021. Implementing it here is the very natural and expected result. We have always been thought and policy leaders in Santa Monica, and I hope your vote will continue to further that admirable goal by voting yes on this Item as proposed by staff.

Thank you for your consideration,
Anastasia Foster
‐‐
Anastasia Foster
Chair, Santa Monica Rent Control Board
Board of Directors, Meals on Wheels West
CADEM Credentials Committee Co‐Chair & Delegate ‐ AD51
Franklin PTA Executive Committee
CEPS Steering Committee
Facebook
Instagram
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From: Amanda Gould <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 11:17 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support Gender-Neutral Bathroom Developments

EXTERNAL
Good morning Council Members,
I wanted to express my support for Tuesday's measure that would require new developments to include gender‐neutral bathrooms. As someone who has been a professional domestic violence and sexual assault survivor advocate and counselor for a decade, I am extremely concerned and disappointed to see that some of the Council members are listening to fear‐mongering, anti‐LGBTQ, pundits. I know from first‐hand experience that I've worked with many transgender survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and hate violence who have been assaulted and harmed for simply trying to access bathroom spaces that align with their gender identity. In my ten years in the field, I have never once worked with a survivor who was assaulted in a bathroom by a transgender person or someone pretending to be a transgender person. These lies that gender‐inclusive bathrooms are dangerous are harmful myths that only serve to erase transgender people and erode LGBTQ‐inclusive protections that our movement is fighting for. Santa Monica should be a beacon of hope in this wave of over 500 anti‐LGBTQ bills cropping up across the country this year, not a shameful part of continuing this political harm against the community. Creating access to gender‐inclusive bathroom spaces is critical for transgender, nonbinary, and gender non‐conforming people's safety. I urge you to vote in favor of this measure to ensure that gender‐neutral bathrooms are part of future developments.

Best,
Amanda Gould
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From: Lisa Yao <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:50 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 13O - Oppose

EXTERNAL
Transgender youth are at the highest risk for suicide of any population. I support all measures to help transgender individuals feel safe and welcome in our community - and gender neutral bathrooms are a direct way to assist that objective.

Lisa Yao
90402
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From: Ethan Karetsky <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 4:28 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers,
I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

Gender‐neutral restrooms are safer and more accessible for many communities including the disabled / those with caregivers of a different gender, parents of children of a different gender, and trans and gender non‐conforming people.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

As a Santa Monica resident and LGBTQ+ business person, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender‐neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Ethan Karetsky
Santa Monica Resident
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From: Christopher Russell <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 4:29 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

EXTERNAL
Note: This is a form letter I’m sending, but the sentiments are matched with mine and of all places, Santa Monica can pull this off and model the type of inclusive community we say we want to be.

CR
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers—
I support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi-stall gender neutral restrooms in Santa Monica as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by Senator Allen and co-sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

Gender neutral restrooms provide a safer experience for trans and gender non-conforming people. Additionally, and just as importantly, gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

As a Santa Monica resident, I urge Council to approve this common-sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Christopher Russell
‐‐
Christopher Russell
Los Angeles, CA
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From: Sion Roy <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 4:09 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers,
I support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender neutral restrooms in Santa Monica as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by Senator Allen and co‐sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

I'm proud of this effort in the City of Santa Monica to require gender neutral bathrooms for new builds‐ this is a critical effort towards providing a safer environment for trans and gender non‐conforming people‐ a vulnerable population, where almost of half have attempted suicide, that is sadly being targeted across the country. Thank you for your efforts in pushing for a more inclusive and equitable community.

As a physician and Santa Monica College trustee, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Shy
Sion Roy MD, FACC, MSCCT
Harbor UCLA
Cardiology
Director, Inpatient Cardiac CT
Associate Cardiology Fellowship Program Director
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Past President, Los Angeles County Medical Association
Trustee, Santa Monica College
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From: alma hadar <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 3:34 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Strongly in favor of gender neutral bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear Council,
I support ALL measures to HELP transgender individuals feel safe and welcome in our community ‐ and gender neutral bathrooms are a direct way to assist that objective.

Alma Hadar
90402
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From: Michele Torosis <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 3:13 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

Gender neutral restrooms provide a safer experience for trans and gender non‐conforming people. Additionally, and just as importantly, gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

Sincerely,
Michele
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From: Eric Cervini <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 2:44 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

As a Santa Monica resident, LGBTQ+ historian, author, and small business owner, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Eric Cervini
Author, Santa Monica Resident
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From: Rebecca Bijur <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 2:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Please pass the ordinance for gender neutral bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear City Council members,
Thank you for your leadership and service to our city.

I am writing today as a person of faith, a resident of the Pico neighborhood, and a parent with three children in our Santa Monica public schools, to ask you to pass the ordinance for gender‐neutral bathrooms.

My faith tradition teaches that every person is both with dignity and humanity, and that includes their gender expression. This is why, as a religious leader, I am asking you to create welcoming, inclusive spaces for all genders in our city, by ensuring gender neutral bathrooms are available to all of us. In addition to supporting all gender expressions, gender neutral bathrooms also support caregivers who are supporting an individual who is a different gender than they are ‐ which is important to me as a parent. Finally, I understand the Santa Monica City Council was not only a supporter, but also a co‐sponsor of the SB1194 (authored by Santa Monica’s state senator Ben Allen) in 2021, the bill that made it easier for cities to pass ordinances for gender neutral public restrooms. I commend your leadership then, and I'm asking you to live up to that leadership again today by passing this ordinance for gender neutral bathrooms.

Thank you,
Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur
‐‐‐
Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur
Affiliated Community Minister, Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church Canoga Park, CA
www.rebeccabijur.com
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From: London Taylor <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:45 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

As a member of the Stonewall LGBTQ+ Democratic Club, I urge the Santa Monica City Council to approve this common‐ sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender‐neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

London Taylor
Vice‐Chair, California Young Democrats Black Caucus
Communications Director, California Young Democrats LGBTQ Caucus Item 10.A
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From: Ernest E. Cornish <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:41 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Ernest E. Cornish,
Pronouns: He/Him/ His
Chair Stonewall Democratic Club Chair, Historical Preservation Owner/ Operator Cornish_LA_Photography™ LLC
NPPA Member
https://dot.cards/cornish_la_photography
714‐981‐7806
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e‐mail is intended only for the recipient, and may be a confidential communication or may otherwise be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, please be aware that any dissemination or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify us by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. © 2022‐2023 The Official home of Ernest E. Cornish ‐ All images subject to copyright at Cornish_LA_Photography™LLC
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From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:40 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Carolyn Fowler
Sent from my iPhone
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From: Alex Mohajer <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:39 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, As President of the Stonewall Democratic Club, one of the oldest LGBTQ+ political advocacy organizations, I am writing to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica. Please do not take a reactionary "no" position on this uncontroversial and inclusive ordinance.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

I urge the Santa Monica City Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender‐ neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Alex Mohajer
President
Stonewall Democratic Club
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From: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Gender-Neutral Public Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Hi! Council,
Please rethink gender neutral bathrooms. It’s demeaning to women to have to touch a public toilet seat because a guy left the seat up in the gender‐neutral stall.

Thank you for listening,
Jodi Summers
Ocean Park Resident
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From: Alana Roshay <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:36 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

As a cis woman I'm constantly waiting in long lines when the mens restroom is empty and frequently use the mens restroom for that reason. We need to remember that gender neutral bathrooms satisfy a major NEED for all women.

Period.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Alana Roshay (she/her)
Chair of Special Committee on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Stonewall Democratic Club
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From: AlanToy <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:35 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item #10A - Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access

EXTERNAL
Council,
Below are my thoughts on Item #10A ‐ Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access. Clerk, please include this comment in the record for Item #10A.

I strongly support the concept and the construction of all gender bathrooms in Santa Monica. To suggest that trans people might be more dangerous, or threatening, to children or heterosexuals is not at all based on facts, and it is absolutely disgusting to me. Council members who are perpetuating this stereotype should be ashamed of themselves.

This is Santa Monica, not Florida or Tennessee.

Alan Toy
156 San Vicente Blvd. #32
Santa Monica, CA
Sent from my iPad
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From: Analisa Swan <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:29 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Analisa Swan, Esq.

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION

This e‐mail message and any attachments are intended for the use of the addressee names above and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution, or copying is strictly prohibited. If you received this e‐mail message in error, please immediately notify the sender by replying to this email message or by telephone.

Thank you.

Sent from my iPad.

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From: Kathleen Ripley <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:54 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Kathleen Ripley
Santa Monica resident
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From: Sara Roos <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 7:48 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: SUPPORT for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

As a (straight; ally) mother of two, and a member of the Stonewall LGBTQ+ Democratic Club, I urge the Santa Monica City Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender‐neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item. ‐Sara Roos.

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From: Ilya Haykinson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:35 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10-A: Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Hello,
As a long term resident of Santa Monica, I would like to encourage the city to adopt the staff recommendation supporting the use of all‐gender bathrooms. As countlessly demonstrates, these are no less safe than gender‐segregated bathrooms. On the other hand, all‐gender bathrooms send a clear message about our city's progressive values to those who would use them.
‐ilya
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From: Helen Landon <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:18 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 10A

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
I am writing to support item 10A. It is important to me and my family that the City do what it can to move towards affirming the rights of trans and gender non conforming members of our community.

Having restrooms that anyone can use, is one way to move towards equality. We can stand in line together as family, as friends and as allies. I actually think it's kind of pleasant to NOT have to go our separate ways when out and about. As a mom of teens, I know plenty of gender non conforming kids who don't want to have to make that choice when approaching the restroom. Why should they? Let's just all go together. For those who bring up "safety", it's actually great for families of younger kids to not have to part ways. I think being all together increases safety and comfort.

I urge you to visit places where these types of public restrooms exist and work well.

One such place is the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in downtown Los Angeles. Their restroom is gender neutral and accommodates all their patrons. As one approaches the restroom, the signs say "urinals" and point to an area off to the left and "toilets" and leads to many individual stalls, which are private. I believe the sink/mirror area is open. I do know that some places provide sinks and mirrors in stalls.

Thank you for carefully considering this item.

Helen Zielinski Landon, PhD
San Vicente Blvd. 90402
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From: Naomi Goldman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:05 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers:

I write in strong support of Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐ neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

Not only are gender‐neutral restrooms safer for the transgender community, they are also helpful for single parents, caregivers, and the safety of women in general and are safer and more accessible for many communities including the disabled / those with caregivers of a different gender, parents of children of a different gender, and trans and gender non‐conforming people. They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

As a member of the Stonewall LGBTQ+ Democratic Club and the Santa Monica Democratic Club, elected California Democratic Party Delegate representing the 51st Assembly District and as Vice Chair for Public Policy of the National Women’s Political Caucus of California, I urge the Santa Monica City Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender‐neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Naomi Goldman
‐‐
Naomi Goldman
Vice Chair, Public Policy, National Women's Political Caucus of California California Democratic Party Delegate (Assembly District 51) and Executive Board Member Principal, NLG Communications
Office: 424-293-2113
Cell: 310-770-2765
[email protected]
Follow me on Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn Profile
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From: Carol Dickinson <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 9:47 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Caroline Torosis; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Jesse Zwick
Subject: ITEM 10A-Gender-Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Dear Mayor Davis and City Council Members, As a woman and lifelong Democrat, I am adamantly opposed to gender‐ neutral restrooms. Women, trans women and underage girls will be put into a vulnerable and potentially unsafe position when they have to share restrooms with the opposite sex. Lack of privacy is also an important issue for them.

Some women will feel so uncomfortable that they will avoid these bathrooms at all costs. Urinary tract infections can be the unfortunate result of that behavior.

I welcome trans women to use the same public bathroom that I do. Transgender people should be allowed to use the restroom as to the sex with which they identify. That should be the public policy of Santa Monica.

Please vote NO on gender‐neutral restrooms!
Sincerely,
Carol Dickinson
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From: Natalya Zernitskaya <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 8:52 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: Gleam Davis; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; David White
Subject: City Council 4/25/23 Agenda Item 10A-Support

EXTERNAL
Good Evening Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, and City Councilmembers, I urge you to vote YES on agenda item 10A.

Santa Monica was not only a supporter, but also a co‐sponsor of SB 1194, which provides our City the authority to pass this ordinance to require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Studies have repeatedly confirmed that the types of multi‐stall, all gender, public restroom facilities that would be required under this ordinance provide for a better experience not only for trans and gender diverse people, but also for disabled people, parents of young children, caregivers, seniors, and women.

Bathroom access has played a key role in discrimination faced by many other minority groups, with sex segregation posing a particular challenge to enabling restroom inclusion for diverse gender identities.

In addition to improving safety and well‐being for trans and gender diverse people and making it easier for parents with young children, disabled people, caregivers, seniors, and women to use public restrooms, gender neutral restrooms can also be more cost‐effective and more sustainable. The Staff Report notes that "The proposal would not result in adverse physical environmental effects as it encompasses design modifications and lessening use restrictions for public restroom facilities that would otherwise already be provided in a new development." Let's live up to our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion and approve this common sense ordinance to require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings.

Please pass the gender neutral public restrooms ordinance so that Santa Monica can continue becoming the diverse, equitable, and inclusive community that I know we can be.

Sincerely,
Natalya Zernitskaya
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From: Joanne Leslie <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 9:28 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10-A Gender Neutral Bathrooms

EXTERNAL
I am writing as a long time resident of Santa Monica, who is also an ordained clergy member and a retired professor of public health. I am completely comfortable personally using gender neutral bathrooms, which I encounter in many locations already and which are even more common in Europe. There is no evidence that they will lead to more sexual assaults, which are unfortunately much more likely to occur among people who know each other. I feel that any public resistance is more about people's attachment to whatever is familiar than it is about any actual, research verified risks associated with gender neutral bathrooms. A secondary benefit of gender neutral facilities, although certainly not the main argument in their favor, is that they even out what can often be a much longer wait for women's toilets than for men's toilets.

Thank you for taking my comment,
Joanne Leslie, 1351 Grant St. Santa Monica CA 90405
Joanne Lesliie
310‐403‐9353
"In truth, we know nothing of God apart from creation, history, revelation, or relationship." Gary Commins, Evil and the Problem of Jesus.

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From: Council Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 9:27 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Fw: Item 10-A
From: Faustino Garza <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 8:58 AM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Subject: Item 10‐A

EXTERNAL
Please, NO gender‐neutral bathroom mandate in our city!! Help protect our young children.

My wife and I and many of other residents don't feel comfortable using them. It would make public bathrooms in parks, libraries and other city facilities non‐accessable to many of us.

Please, please NO!
Faustino Garza
35 year homeowner and resident
Sunset Park
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From: Natalie Wampler <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 9:21 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Gender neutral bathrooms, Item 10A

EXTERNAL
Dear Council‐
Please make new bathrooms Gender Neutral. These bathrooms benefit so many people. As a mother, this helps me when I need to take my opposite gender, nuerodiverse older children to the bathroom. This will help protect trans people. It also makes life so much easier for those that are disabled or elderly that have caretakers of an opposite gender.

Considering that Santa Monica City Council was not only a supporter, but also a co‐sponsor of the SB1194 (authored by Santa Monica’s state senator Ben Allen) in 2021, the bill that made it easier for cities to pass ordinances for gender neutral public restrooms, it seems like a no brainer decision.

Thank you for approving this ordinance. It will make life easier for many different populations.

Natalie Wampler
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From: Caro Vilain <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 7:55 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 10A

EXTERNAL
Dear mayor and council,
I am writing to you in support of item 10A on tonight’s agenda.

As a woman and Santa Monica resident, I FULLY support multi stall restroom facilities.

Everyone should be allowed to feel comfortable in a restroom, regardless of their sex or gender.

As a woman, I would also appreciate it if my gender wasn’t used as an argument to make false claims to fit one’s agenda.

I DO feel safe and comfortable in gender neutral bathrooms.

When the state brought up this measure, we as a city backed it up, as we should have, and we should move forward with it, because most reasonable know it’s the right thing.

It’s 2023, it’s time to get over irrational fears that perpetuate hate. There are a lot more transgender people and gender non‐confirming people than you think, and as the popular destination that this city is, there is no question that we should be offering gender neutral bathrooms to all, and show the world we can be decent humans.

Item 10A has my full support.

Thank you,
Caro Vilain
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From: Sophia F. Gottfried <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:17 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

As a frequent Santa Monica visitor, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Sophia
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From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:28 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item #10A - Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access

EXTERNAL
Council,
Please support the ordinance to make new and renovated restrooms gender neutral instead of spreading rightwing anti‐ trans talking points in the community.

Please also make sure you've actually read the agenda before polluting our public discourse with bad information and fearmongering given to the media.
‐Jason Mastbaum
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From: Michael Ai <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:27 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom). They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Mike Ai
Sent from my iPhone
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From: Erick Matos <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:52 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; councilmtgitems
Subject: Support for Item 10A for Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tempore Negrete, and Councilmembers, I write to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender‐neutral restrooms in Santa Monica.

We have seen countless examples of successfully implemented gender‐neutral bathrooms throughout the state and region. The arguments against this ordinance are entirely unfounded and deeply troubling. The notion that the gendered sign on the door of a restroom is somehow able to deter crime and protect public safety is incredibly naive.

In fact, gender‐neutral restrooms are safer and more accessible for many communities including the disabled / those with caregivers of a different gender, parents with children of a different gender, and trans and gender non‐conforming people. They reduce wait times for everyone (but especially those who typically wait in line for the women's restroom).

They are also more cost‐effective for businesses to build and maintain.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Erick J. Matos
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From: Sarika Mendu <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:41 AM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

Gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

Sincerely,
Sarika
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From: Debbie Paperman <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 10:54 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Caroline Torosis; Christine Parra; Gleam Davis; Jesse Zwick; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock
Subject: Support for Item 10-A: Gender Neutral Restrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear Council members,
I am writing to you today in support of Agenda ittem #10A ‐ Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access.

I feel so grateful to be able to live in Santa Monica for so many reasons but one of the reasons I love it so much is because it iis a diverse city that embraces inclusivity for all.

I want to make sure that Santa Monica continues to be this way and that is why I urge you to support Agenda Item #10A gender neutral bathrooms as I feel that this is something that is necessary and will be a benefit to the whole community.

Tonight the Santa Monica City Council will have the opportunity to take an important step towards becoming a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community by passing an ordinance to make newly constructed and renovated public restrooms gender neutral, as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by our very own Senator Ben Allen and co-sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

Gender neutral, multi-stall restrooms remove the stigma associated with using the perceived “wrong” restroom.

Additionally, and just as importantly, gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

This issue is so widely supported that SB 1194 passed the California State Legislature unanimously in both the Senate and Assembly; not even Republicans opposed Santa Monica’s co-sponsored legislation.

I urge the Council to approve this common-sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. We must continue the work towards becoming the inclusive community that we all know we can and should be.

Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
Debbie Paperman
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From: Tricia Crane <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:42 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Oscar de la Torre; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Phil Brock; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; David White; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; Douglas Sloan; Denise Anderson-Warren
Subject: Council Agenda Item 10.A (4/25/23) Insufficient Information for Discussion of Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access

EXTERNAL
To: Santa Monica City Council
From: The Board of Northeast Neighbors
Re: Agenda Item 10.A: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance amending SMMC Chapter 8.110 adding Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access
Dear Councilmembers,
The Board of Northeast Neighbors is concerned by the insufficient information provided in the Staff Report for Agenda Item 10-A and ask the Council to direct Staff to return with a comprehensive Report before engaging in a “First Reading of a proposal to amend City Ordinance SMMC Chapter 8.110.” We feel strongly that Staff should be directed to generate a new and more complete Report before Council and the community can begin to engage in a public discussion of the real options possible in the adoption of a policy requiring Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access. - The Report offers very limited options for the possible layout of proposed Gender Neutral Restrooms. - The Report fails to examine the possibility that such proposed Gender Neutral Restrooms might be considered as additional to traditional restrooms rather than as a replacement. - The Report also fails to sufficiently address how the proposed designs will accomplish the promise that they are “designed to feel safe and accessible by more of our community.” These are only a few of the glaring holes in the Staff Report for Agenda Item 10.A.

Clearly there is a need for the Council and members of the community to be provided with a more expansive Report in order for the City to craft a policy that - as promised - ensures "safety and accessibility for all".

Thank you.

Tricia Crane, Chair
Northeast Neighbors of Santa Monica
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From: Rana Kirkland <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:58 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 10A

EXTERNAL
There is a general fear about gender neutral bathrooms that seems to be based on a fear of the unknown.

The irony is that trans and gender fluid individuals have been using the restrooms they find comfortable for themselves, long before general society became woke to it.

When most people go to the restroom, they go to pay attention to themselves, not others.

This seems like a good opportunity to accept that what has been happening innocuously already, isn’t really worth being afraid of.

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From: Lynn Cervini <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 11:54 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: gender neutral bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dr. Council,
I disagree with Council members Negrete, de la Torre, and Brock. I think their statements about the disadvantages of gender-neutral bathrooms are totally wrong! I support the proposal to make these bathrooms available in Santa Monica. As a single parent of a son, we both would have been much safer using gender-neutral bathrooms when he was growing up. I see no additional dangers in using these bathrooms.

Sincerely,
Lynn Cervini
A resident of Santa Monica
2000 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Lynn Cervini
Senior Sales Director, Mary Kay Cosmetics
cell: 512-799-2993
www.marykay.com/lynncervini
MK e-catalogClick here! Click here!Click cou
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1 SANTA MONICA ALLIANCE FOR THE FUTURE
www.futuresantamonica.org
April 25, 2023
Santa Monica City Council
c/o City Clerk
1685 Main St., Room 250
Santa Monica, CA 90401
RE: Support for Agenda Item 10-A
Dear Hon. Councilmembers,
On behalf of the Santa Monica Alliance for the future, I am writing to urge you to support Agenda Item 10-A. Our members support policies, like the proposed amendments to Chapter 8.110, that build a more inclusive world for current and future Santa Monicans.

A recent study of transgender youth in San Francisco found that 50% percent of those who responded to the survey had attempted suicide before the age of

25.1 We need to be using every possible strategy to build a safe and inclusive future for the most vulnerable members of our community. By opening access to gender-inclusive restroom facilities, you will help us build a more just, equitable, and inclusive city.

For these reasons, we hope you will support item 10-A.

Best,
Ellis Raskin
Chair, S.M. Alliance for the Future

1 Clements-Nolle K, Marx R, Katz M. Attempted suicide among transgender persons: The influence of gender-based discrimination and victimization. J Homosex. 2006; 51:53–69; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v51n03_04.

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Santa Monica City Council
c/o City Clerk
1685 Main St., Room 250
Santa Monica, CA 90401
RE: Agenda Item 10-A (Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance amending SMMC Chapter 8.110 adding Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access) Dear Hon. Councilmembers,
I am writing to urge you to SUPPORT the recommend amendments to Mun. Code Chapt. 8.110, which will enable gender-neutral public restroom access in our city.

To quote Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk Gerson:1 Public restrooms are not just toilets; for more than a hundred years, they have implicated questions of who really belongs in public, civic, and professional life.

The proposed ordinance will help our city build an equitable and inclusive community for all people. It implements a common sense strategy that was unanimously supported by the legislature, which voted — without a single dissenting vote — to support SB 1194; that bill was co-sponsored by the City of Santa Monica. Indeed, numerous studies have found that removing gender-segregated restrooms will promote public safety.2 Please do the right thing and vote “yes” to support the proposed ordinance.

Best,
Ellis Raskin

1 See attached article, Gerson (2016) “Who’s Afraid of Gender Neutral Bathrooms?” 2 See, e.g., Francis et al. (2022) “Gender-Neutral Toilets: A Qualitative Exploration of Inclusive School Environments for Sexuality and Gender Diverse Youth in Western Australia” (summarizing findings from other studies); available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9407760.

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I
News Desk
Who’s Afraid of Gender-Neutral Bathrooms?
By Jeannie Suk Gersen
January 25, 2016
Amid a debate over transgender rights, the arguments against gender-neutral restrooms are remarkably consistent with the Victorian notions that created sex-segregated facilities in the first place. Photograph by Adam Gault / Ocean / Corbis n the middle of taking the bar exam at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, in New York City, along with thousands of aspiring lawyers, I had to go to the bathroom. The enormous line for the women’s restroom looked like it would take at least a half hour. There was no line for the men’s restroom. I walked in, passed my male Item 10.A
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counterparts at a row of urinals, used one of several empty stalls, then returned to my desk. I felt that my decision to forgo the women’s bathroom made a difference to my passing the exam, and that the much longer wait for women than men during an all-important test for entry to the legal profession was obviously unfair.

There is now, however, an active debate around what bathrooms we should be able to use. A recently proposed Indiana law would make it a crime for a person to enter a single-sex public restroom that does not match the person’s “biological gender,” defined in terms of chromosomes and sex at birth. The punishment could be up to a year in jail and a five-thousand-dollar fine. Similar laws proposed in several other states have not passed. These proposals attempt to counter recent moves in many states to allow transgender people to access bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s same-sex-marriage decision, last summer, these skirmishes may give the sense of moving the L.G.B.T.-equality debate from the sublime to the ridiculous.

But the implications of the controversy go far beyond bathrooms.

Last fall’s successful campaign in Houston to reject a broad anti-discrimination ordinance made clear that restrooms will be fields of battle over gender and sexuality for the foreseeable future. The Houston ordinance, which prohibited discrimination in employment and housing based on categories including sex, race, religion, and gender identity, was defeated in a referendum after opponents painted it as a “bathroom ordinance” that would enable men to enter women’s restrooms. One ad in the campaign showed a young girl being followed into a bathroom by an older man. Another ad emphasized the risk of having registered sex offenders in bathrooms with women and girls. The vulnerability that most people feel in a public restroom, with their trousers pulled down in proximity to others, was easily exploited in connection with sexual assault. Saying no to the so-called bathroom ordinance was framed as preventing sexual danger to women and girls (even though danger to transgender individuals is often seen as a reason to support bathroom access).

Today’s most-prominent arguments against inclusive restrooms are remarkably consistent with the Victorian notions that led to sex-segregated bathrooms in the first place. When the ideology of separate spheres for male and female, public and private, the market and the home reigned, the growth of women’s presence in public life led to the desire to protect women from the crude dangers of the male world. Among the legal effects was the 1873 Supreme Court holding in Bradwell v. Illinois that it was not unconstitutional for a state to deny women admission to the bar on the basis of their sex, with a famous concurring opinion that stated, “Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.” The same separate-spheres paternalism led to the designation of certain physical spaces for women apart from those for men, including bathrooms in public venues. These were safe spaces, if you will, tucked in a world in which women were vulnerable. As our society is currently experiencing a resurgence of paternalist concern about women’s sexual vulnerability—especially in the context of that great equalizer, education—it is no surprise that there would also be a new emphasis on the Victorian phenomenon of separate restrooms.

The connection of public bathrooms with condemned sexual behavior also relates to our recent history of criminalizing homosexuality. For most of the twentieth century, gay sex was criminal, and public disclosure of a man’s homosexuality spelled the death of his reputation and career. Public restrooms were sites of clandestine sex among men, and undercover police engaged in bathroom surveillance to catch men seeking sex in toilet stalls.

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David Sklansky, a law professor at Stanford, has argued that modern legal ideas of privacy were forged in the nineteen-sixties in part because of the Supreme Court’s distaste for this sordid police practice. According to his theory, bathroom sex is the “secret subtext” of Katz v. United States, which requires the police to have a warrant to eavesdrop electronically on a call made from a telephone booth, and is the source for the modern idea that the Constitution protects a reasonable expectation of privacy. Since Lawrence v. Texas_,_ in 2003, it has been unconstitutional to criminalize gay sex taking place in private, but this protection does not apply to sex (gay or straight) in public spaces. As late as 2007, Senator Larry Craig was arrested in an airport-restroom sex sting for signalling interest in sex with a stranger in an adjacent stall, and convicted of disorderly conduct.

Whereas homosexuality was until recently considered the paradigm of sexual deviance, today’s bathroom debate focusses on heterosexual deviance. The undercover figures we imagine are not snooping cops but rather heterosexual men who might pretend to be women “that day” to follow women and girls into restrooms. I’m not aware of reliable statistics that would indicate that public bathrooms are more sexually dangerous than any other places—or would be, were they to be desegregated—though the history of bathroom sex does associate the space with sexual conduct. Even if the sexual-assault argument against allowing transgender restroom access is implausible, it is still hard to come up with an account of why public bathrooms should be gender-segregated that does not rely on a gendered version of privacy and safety that recapitulates “separate spheres” and sexual vulnerability.

Today, men and women, not assumed to be only heterosexual, are expected to function at work alongside one another, eat at adjacent seats in restaurants, sit cheek by jowl in buses and airplanes, take classes, study in libraries, and, with some exceptions, even pray together. Why is the multi-stall bathroom the last public vestige of gendered social separation? When men, gay or straight, can stand shoulder to shoulder at urinals without a second thought, is there much to back up the view that men and women must not pee or poop next to one another, especially if closed stalls would shield them from view? Women may have some distinctive sanitation needs, but why does that require a wholly separate space from men?
Perhaps the point is precisely that the public restroom is the only everyday social institution remaining in which separation by gender is the norm, and undoing that separation would feel like the last shot in the “war on gender” itself. As we consider the possibility of electing our first female President, the bathroom as the site of sex difference has been underlined by another candidate, Donald Trump, who said, “I don’t want to think about” the “disgusting” things Hillary Clinton was doing in the bathroom, in a comment widely understood to be about her female sex.

Though both men and women must perform private bodily functions in public bathrooms, the mere thought of a woman doing it implied an irreducible sex difference that made plain a gross incongruity with the ultimate public role. Public restrooms are not just toilets; for more than a hundred years, they have implicated questions of who really belongs in public, civic, and professional life.

One practical reason we can’t change to unsegregated bathrooms overnight is that municipal, state, and federal legal codes, many with origins in the nineteenth century, mandate that there be separate facilities for each sex, in businesses and places of work. These widespread codes could be changed one by one. But it seems more likely that, when it comes to multi-stall bathrooms, gender segregation will remain the norm, and that we will see the addition of more single-stall restrooms that are open to any gender. Transgender people’s need to use bathrooms that match Item 10.A
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their identified gender is modest and not reasonably denied. Old ideology, in the meantime, stays alive in mundane legal regulation that resists more thorough change and determines our plumbing.

Jeannie Suk Gersen is a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a professor at Harvard Law School.

More: Bathrooms Transgender
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April 25, 2023
Re: Item 10-A Support for Gender Neutral Restrooms
Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete and Councilmembers,
We urge the Council to support this ordinance to make new and renovated restrooms gender neutral. Clean, accessible and safe restrooms are a universal need, and this is an opportunity to create gender-neutral facilities that will benefit transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, the disabled, parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals and reduce wait times for cisgender women.

We are concerned by the misinformation and fear-mongering circulating around this ordinance in our community and the press. There is a preponderance of evidence that gender-neutral facilities are safe and reduce the risk of violence against transgender individuals. The staff report is clear that gender neutral multi-use restrooms would have designs that differ from existing single-gender restrooms, with objective design standards for privacy and safety.

Lastly, we implore every council member to read their researched staff reports before repeating unsubstantiated tropes in the press that put vulnerable members of our community at risk of ostracization or violence.

Sincerely,
Brad Ewing and Carl Hansen
Co-chairs, Santa Monica Forward
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1 April 25, 2023
Re: Agenda Item 10.A for April 25, 2023 City Council Meeting (Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance amending SMMC Chapter 8.110 adding Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access) Dear Councilmembers:

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (“SMRR”) supports policies that promote safe, fair, equitable, inclusive and private access to public restroom facilities. Accordingly, we urge you to support Agenda Item 10-A and to vote for the proposed ordinance to require that new and renovated public restroom facilities be designed to permit—and when completed to provide—safe and private gender-neutral public restroom facilities access for all.

Last year, the City of Santa Monica co-sponsored Senate Bill 1194 (authored by our State Senator and fellow Santa Monican Ben Allen), which gives cities the opportunity to provide access to inclusive allgender restroom facilities within their jurisdictions. That bill was unanimously approved by the State Senate and Assembly. Senator Allen’s fact sheet for SB 11941 explains that opening access to properly designed and constructed inclusive restroom facilities will promote safety and equity:

Gender-segregated restroom facilities have long posed safety concerns for vulnerable people.

Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals have been verbally harassed, physically attacked, and sexually assaulted when accessing gender-segregated restrooms. According to a 2015 survey of transgender people in the United States, 24% of respondents were asked at least once in the previous year whether they were in the right restroom and 9% were denied or stopped from using one.

Gender-segregated restrooms also create potentially uncomfortable situations for people with disabilities who have personal attendants of a different gender, and people assisting young or elderly family members of a different gender. Restrooms should be safe and welcoming to all— regardless of circumstances that involve an individual’s age, health condition, or gender identity.

Universal multiple-stall gender-neutral restrooms made up of secure single-user compartments provide a pragmatic solution to the challenges that stem from gender-segregated restrooms while allowing for greater space efficiency.

1 Available at: https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=&event_id=1412&meta_id=244972.

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2 By implementing Senate Bill 1194 and opening access to properly designed and constructed genderneutral public restrooms, Santa Monica will take a crucial step toward fulfilling its vision of assuring a safe and accessible environment for all who work, live or visit Santa Monica, including both our transgender and gender nonconforming friends, neighbors, co-workers and visitors, and those with caregivers of a different gender (including children, the elderly, and those with physical or mental challenges).

We urge you to adopt this common-sense legislation that will promote our common Santa Monica value of welcoming and protecting all persons.

Sincerely,

Denny Zane Mike Soloff
Co-Chair, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights Co-Chair, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights Item 10.A
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EQCA.ORG
April 25, 2023
Santa Monica City Council
1685 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Re: SMMC Chapter 8.110 – Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access Dear Santa Monica City Councilmembers,
Equality California is proud to support the proposed ordinance adding Chapter 8.110 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC), which would require all newly constructed buildings on or after July 1, 2023 to provide gender-neutral public restrooms. The ordinance is an important opportunity to demonstrate the City’s commitment to creating safe and accessible environments for all residents, including transgender and gender non-conforming individuals as well as people with disabilities and caregivers for children and adults.

For more than twenty years, Equality California has led the Golden State’s fight for full LGBTQ+ equality. We bring the voices of LGBTQ+ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating, and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve.

Research has shown that members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, frequently experience discrimination and harassment when using gender-segregated restrooms. According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, which included 27,715 respondents, 12% of transgender individuals reported incidents of verbal harassment when accessing a restroom, while 9% of survey respondents reported that they were denied access to a restroom in the past year.1 Not feeling safe performing one of the most basic bodily functions influences all aspects of a person’s life and can deter people from meaningfully participating in the community.

Gender-neutral restrooms provide an innovative and effective model to improve the safety and wellbeing of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals when using the restroom. Even more, the benefits of gender-neutral restrooms are much broader, as they are useful for people whose loved one—such as a child, person with a disability, or older adult—requires assistance from parents or caregivers of a different gender.2 Simply put, having restrooms accessible to all genders means less hassle for everyone going about their day.
1 National Center for Transgender Equality. (2015). 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Executive Summary. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Executive-Summary-Dec17.pdf 2 American Psychological Association. (2019). Resolution on Support of Universal Design and Accessibility in Education, Training and Practice. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/universal-design-accessibilityeducation Board of Directors
Scott Malzahn
President
Cecilia Cabello
Vice President
Drew Murphy
Secretary
Jason Anderson
Treasurer
Jason Chan
Governance Chair
Jane Natoli
PAC Chair
Rachel Anderson
Aaron Avery
Carl Baker
Jerry Bloom
Sue Burnside
Jason Daniels
Hon. Bevan Dufty
Sue Dunlap
Janessa Goldbeck
Joseph Gregorich
Alicia Isaacs-Lee
Mandy Issacs-Lee
Hon. Sara Jacobs
Hon. Leslie Katz
Thomas Li
Kate Maeder
John Marciano
C. Scott Miller
Alfredo Pedroza
Liliana Perez
Hon. Alex Randolph
Jeff Riles
Yale Scott
Kasey Suffrendini
Nancy Sutley
John Tedstrom
David J. Tsai
Darrell L. Tucci
Hon. James G. Williamson
Equality California
555 W. 5th Street, 35th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90013
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Last year, Equality California was proud to partner with the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood on Senate Bill 1194 (Chapter 839, Statutes of 2022) – authored by Senator Ben Allen – which authorized local governments to adopt a local ordinance or resolution to follow alternative plumbing standards as they relate to the construction of gender-neutral restrooms. The bill gave cities and counties the authority to explore innovative methods of expanding access and creating more inclusive, equal, and safe environments for everyone.

We commend the Santa Monica City Council for following through in its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by ensuring that restrooms are designed to feel safe and accessible by all members of the community. The proposed ordinance will require the provision of restrooms that are accessible to all genders and help to promote greater inclusivity and equity. The ordinance will also require important design elements for gender-neutral restrooms to maintain privacy and safety for everyone, including private stalls enclosed on all sides by walls or partitions – extending from up to one inch above the floor and/or from the ceiling – and locks controlled by the occupant with a visible identifier to outside occupants that the stall is occupied. These design elements will help to ensure that gender- neutral restrooms provide greater access and efficiency for everyone without sacrificing safety and privacy.

The LGBTQ+ community, including transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, contribute creativity, passion, expertise, and hard work to the City of Santa Monica. By voting in favor of this ordinance, you will take a stand on the right side of history and demonstrate the City’s commitment to inclusivity and equity. For all these reasons and more, Equality California is proud to support the ordinance adding SMMC Chapter 8.110 regarding gender-neutral public restroom access. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Craig Pulsipher at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Tony Hoang
Executive Director
Equality California
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President
Jon Katz
VP Political Action
Dan Hall
VP Membership
Michael Soloff
VP Programs
Melissa Goodman
VP Communications
Susan Sheu
VP Diversity & Inclusion
Rana Kirkland
VP Legislation
Isabel Storey
Treasurer
Keith Coleman
Recording Secretary
Natalya Zernitskaya
At-Large
Derek Devermont
Patricia Hoffman
Dolores Sloan
April 24, 2023
Mayor Davis and Councilmembers:

The Santa Monica Democratic Club has always supported rights for the transgender community. At our 2017 rally, on the steps of City Hall, we called for expanded access to gender-neutral restrooms in Santa Monica. These types of restrooms provide a safer experience for transgender individuals and other people in the gender nonconforming community. Additionally, they create more convenience and safety for single parents, caretakers, and all women in general. Because of these benefits, we were pleased to see the proposed ordinance on this week’s Council agenda, Item 10A.

However, we were shocked and horrified to read the report in the local press which quoted three councilmembers who repeated hurtful, misogynistic, and transphobic talking points frequently associated with the far right and conservative movements. The disgraceful remarks made by these councilmembers are not reflective of the inclusive community that Santa Monica is and strives to be.

In the days since this article was published, we have seen two councilmembers gaslight our transgender community, claiming they were taken out of context or that this Democratic Club has politicized their comments. These councilmembers love to act defensively every time our Club has called them out for their out of touch views, and they publicly suggest that we “label anyone who they think might have a different opinion from theirs as ‘right wing.’” This is outright false. Our Club is welcoming of all Democrats with a diverse set of viewpoints, even those with which our Executive Committee strongly disagrees. There are many differing opinions within our Club membership, and we are proud of the policy debates and discussions we have held during our meetings.

However, we draw a red line when those viewpoints demean and diminish valued members of our community, as is the case with the comments made by these councilmembers in the press regarding our transgender community. The vicious remarks made in the press by elected officials who purport to represent our City must be condemned, and the councilmembers must apologize for demonizing members of our community. The fact that, instead, these councilmembers are claiming that they are the victims in this circumstance, rather than a community which has historically been especially prone to violent attacks based only on their identity, shows just how out of touch these councilmembers are with reality and with issues pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community.

Respectfully,
Jon Katz
President,
Santa Monica Democratic Club
On Behalf Of the Executive Committee
P.O. Box 1052 • Santa Monica,CA 90406 • 215-962-4357 • [email protected] Item 10.A
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P.O. Box 24565
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Tel: (888) PFLAG-88
www.pflagla.org
Support Education Advocacy
A non-profit tax exempt organization – Tax ID #95-3707419 An Affiliate of PFLAG National
April 24, 2023
Santa Monica City Council
City Hall
1685 Main Street, Room 209
Santa Monica, California 90401
RE: Support of Proposed Gender Neutral Restroom Ordinance Dear Santa Monica City Council Members,
PFLAG Los Angeles is an all volunteer organization run by parents, family members, LGBTQ persons and their friends. Each of us came for help, found support, and joined the organization to assist others on their journey to acceptance. Our chapter, together with a group in New York City, founded the national PFLAG organization nearly 50 years ago. Our mission is to support families, allies and people who are LGBTQ, to educate ourselves and others about the unique issues and challenges facing people who are LGBTQ, and to advocate in our communities to change attitudes and create policies and laws that achieve full equality for people who are LGBTQ.

We are writing you in support of the adoption of gender-neutral public restroom access in the City of Santa Monica. At our meetings, we listen to LGBTQ persons discuss the difficulties in their lives. For transgender and non-binary persons, the problem of finding safe public bathrooms is enormous. We have heard from teenagers (attending public high schools in Santa Monica) who have to walk across the whole campus between class periods to get to the only gender neutral bathrooms--only to find them locked. We have heard from persons in the process of transitioning unable to safely use either the “men’s” room or the “women’s room.” We have heard from individuals who have developed urinary tract infections because they routinely inhibited their bodily function for lack of a safe restrooms. Transgender and non-binary persons are no threat to others using the restroom. Indeed, they are the ones threatened. Let us stop this discrimination now!
Sincerely,
Steve Krantz, Ph.D.

Vice President
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CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS
455 NORTH REXFORD DRIVE BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA 90210 August 18, 2022
The Honorable Ben Allen
Senator, 26th District
1021 0 Street, Suite 6610
Sacramento, CA 95814Re: SB 1194 (Allen) Public restrooms: building standards.

City of Beverly Hills -SUPPORT
Dear Senator Allen,
The City of Beverly Hills is proud to SUPPORT SB 1194, your measure to authorize a city or county to useits local authority to require that multi-stall public toilet facilities be designed, constructed, and identifiedfor use by all genders. Clean, accessible, and safe restrooms are a universal need. Your measure will ensure that the City has sufficient authority to ensure that public restrooms are available to residents and visitors.

California has led the nation in ensuring that safe, accessible, gender-neutral restroom facilities are available to visitors ofmost public places. California Building Code (CBC) regulates the design, construction, quality of materials, use and occupancy, location, and maintenance of all buildings and structures in the state. Amendments to California’s building standards are subject to a lengthy and transparent public participation process throughout each cycle.

Local jurisdictions are required to enforce the CBC, typically through local ordinances. When a local jurisdiction fails to adopt an enforcement ordinance, the CBC becomes the applicable code by default.

Local governments may adopt ordinances that differ from the CBC pursuant to express findings that amendments are necessary because of local climatic, geological, topographic, or environmental conditions. To be enforceable, an amendment must be filed with the State Building Standards Commission (BSC).

The BSC has not developed or approved building standards for multi-stall, genderneutral bathrooms, and this bill would provide express authority for local jurisdictions to set these standards for restrooms in these facilities by codifying specific building standards for local jurisdictions to Lii Bosse, Mayoradopt by ordinance or resolution.

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SB 1194 provides clear and express authority for local jurisdictions to require, by ordinance or resolution, public restroom facilities within their jurisdiction to be designed and constructed with single-user toiletcompartments and identified for use by all genders. SB 1194 will help cities and counties meaningfully build on their commitment to create safe and accessible environments for transgender and gender non conforming people as well as people with disabilities and personal caregivers for children and adults. For these reasons, the city is proud to SUPPORT SB 1194.

Liii Bosse
Mayor, City of Beverly Hills
Cc: The Honorable Ben Allen, Senator, 26th District
The Honorable Richard Bloom, Assemblymember, 50th District Andrew K. Antwih, Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange
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From: Dan <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 4:25 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, Councilmembers,
I write to you today to support Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender neutral restrooms in Santa Monica as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by Senator Allen and co‐sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

In this day and age gender neutral restrooms should not be a topic for debate. They provide a safer experience for trans and gender non‐conforming people, who need our support now more than ever in today’s political climate. Additionally, and just as importantly, gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours.

As a Santa Monica resident, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Doing otherwise will place you firmly on the wrong side of history. Please do not let unsupported, right‐wing fear‐mongering sway you away you from the correct decision.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Daniel Bass
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From: Spencer Newman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2023 10:36 AM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Letter in Support of Item 10A
Dear Santa Monica City Council,
My name is Spencer Newman and I am a Samohi alumni who has a great interest in the passing of a bill for gender-neutral restrooms in the city. As a transgender student this would have been extremely helpful and meaningful to me. However, this is not only helpful to transgender students but to many other people as well.

Gender neutral restrooms can help people in the disabled community as well as single parents and other caregivers. While not a single mother, my mom often took me and my brother places without my father and this would have been extremely helpful as my brother often looked older than he was and therefore even at a young age it was difficult for my mother to take him into public restrooms without attracting attention. But, given his young age she also felt uncomfortable sending him off on his own. Gender neutral restrooms could have made these situations easier had we had them in Santa Monica at the time.

Similarly if a disabled person is being cared for by someone of a different gender, having a gender neutral restroom would be extremely helpful. It could also allow for people with disabilities to be able to explore our beautiful city more easily and be able to better plan out their visit.

In conclusion, while I’m sure you have heard and will hear from many transgender individuals about the importance of gender neutral restrooms, this is not just an issue that affects transgender individuals. It affects many different minority groups all of which reside in Santa Monica. If our community is really as accepting as we claim to be then there should be no hesitation when it comes to passing this bill.

Thank you for your time,
Spencer Newman
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From: Jackie Walker Ross <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 2:05 PM
To: Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Christine Parra; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Caroline Torosis; Jesse Zwick; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; councilmtgitems Subject: Support for Item 10A at April 25th Council Meeting

As a supporter of the Santa Monica community, I urge Council to approve this common‐sense, widely supported ordinance and require gender neutral public restrooms in new and renovated buildings. Thank you for your consideration and support of this item.

Sincerely,
Jackie Walker Ross
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From: Daniel Kirschner <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 12:47 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: support for gender neutral bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica Council,
I have lived in Santa Monica for more than 10 years. One of my favorite things about this community is how supportive it is of LGBTQ+ rights. At a time when this vulnerable minority community is being targeted by less accepting jurisdictions for political gain, I think it’s crucial to stand up for dignity and decency. I support all actions by this Council to advance the availability of gender neutral bathrooms, so people can go where they’re comfortable without having to make a statement on their identity.

Thank you,
Daniel Kirschner
90402
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From: Ann Hoover <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 3:31 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Cc: David White; David Martin; Susan Cline
Subject: Council Agenda Item 10.A (4/25/23) Insufficient Information for Discussion of Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access

EXTERNAL
Dear Councilmembers -
Having read the Staff Report in full myself, I support the issues of concern raised in this letter from NEN & support the recommendation that this matter be tabled until some of these questions can be answered in a more complete and updated Staff Report at a future Council meeting.

Having raised two children to adulthood - a boy and a girl - and having once they were of an appropriate age encouraged them to use gender-specific restrooms to start gaining some independence (around age 8-9) - with me waiting anxiously outside of course! ; ) - I'm not thrilled at the idea that only gender-neutral restrooms might be built in the future and the staff report is not clear one way or the other whether or not that would be the case.

According to the United States Sentencing Commission, over 92% of convicted sex offenders are male. https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/quick-facts/Sexual_Abuse_FY18.pdf So if I was a young mom again and if I was sending my daughter alone (again to help establish independence) into a public restroom, I'd prefer that it be a "Females Only" restroom rather than a "Gender Neutral" one. In theory at least & without crunching in all the variables, using a Gender-Neutral restroom might increase the odds of her being sexually assaulted by at least 90%.

Because of this reality (males are by far the most frequent perpetrators of sexual assaults), I always worried much more about sending my young son alone into a public restroom than I worried about sending my daughter. She only ever used "Females Only" when she was young as Gender Neutral options were rare then.

Lastly, having myself opted to use both Males-Only and Females-Only public restrooms in the past (depending on the urgency of my needs!), Females-Only restrooms as a general rule are a much more pleasant and clean experience on average. Sorry guys!!
I know this is apparently a hot-button topic, so I think it would be appropriate to postpone this discussion until more details about implementation, etc. can be provided and ultimately it may be better to specify that Gender-Neutral is required IN ADDITION to providing traditionally-gendered restrooms.

Thanks -
Ann Bowman
Resident, 26+ years
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Santa Monica City Council
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2 From: The Board of Northeast Neighbors
Re: Agenda Item 10.A: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance amending SMMC Chapter 8.110 adding Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access
Dear Councilmembers,
The Board of Northeast Neighbors is concerned by the insufficient information provided in the Staff Report for Agenda Item 10-A and ask the Council to direct Staff to return with a comprehensive Report before engaging in a “First Reading of a proposal to amend City Ordinance SMMC Chapter 8.110.” We feel strongly that Staff should be directed to generate a new and more complete Report before Council and the community can begin to engage in a public discussion of the real options possible in the adoption of a policy requiring Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access. - The Report offers very limited options for the possible layout of proposed Gender Neutral Restrooms. - The Report fails to examine the possibility that such proposed Gender Neutral Restrooms might be considered as additional to traditional restrooms rather than as a replacement. - The Report also fails to sufficiently address how the proposed designs will accomplish the promise that they are “designed to feel safe and accessible by more of our community.” These are only a few of the glaring holes in the Staff Report for Agenda Item 10.A.

Thank you.

Tricia Crane, Chair
Northeast Neighbors of Santa Monica
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From: Robert Rader <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 3:10 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 10A -- Supporting Gender Neutral Bathrooms

EXTERNAL
Dear Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council Members,
Having served over 20 years as a City‐appointed representative to Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (and its predecessor the Bayside District Corporation) and over 18 years as an elected trustee of Santa Monica College, I wanted to share my strong support for gender‐neutral bathrooms, which are both safer and fairer for all persons, whether trans or CIS gender for the following reasons:
a. As the father of a trans boy, I accompany my son to bathrooms and then guard the door, especially in new places.  The risk of intolerance (and potential violence) is too high for me to do otherwise.  The fear‐mongering that I have heard ignores the data that it is trans children and adults who are at the greatest risk according to the data I have seen (including by attending UCLA’s parent group for EMPWR (LGBTQ+) children).  My son knows that not everyone will accept him and has to adjust his behavior all the time to not draw unwanted attention.
b. Additionally, the dearth of adequate bathrooms for women is well documented over time.  This will ease that shortage and lead to greater fairness in bathroom distribution.  It also seems like it is cheaper to switch to a “single queue” system where man and women can use the same bathrooms (by eliminating the need to create separate bathrooms).
c. Finally, most bathrooms are now being designed with greater safety in mind for all persons which is an improvement for everyone, also.  This includes closing gaps between doors and the walls and floors.

Thus, except for exaggerated dangers driven politicians seeking to find cultural issues on which to divide people, I don’t see actual harm coming from gender neutral bathrooms and I do see great benefits, especially for safety for all, greater resources for women, and especially a safe place for trans children and adults.

Thank you for your attention.

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4 Yours,
Rob Rader
Rob Rader
he/his/him
General Counsel
Ovation LLC
11390 W Olympic Blvd.

Suite 350
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Direct: 818.301.0981
Fax: 818.301.1069
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.ovationtv.com
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” George Bernard Shaw (attributed)
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From: Santa Monica City Manager's Office
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 3:00 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: FW: Council meeting 4/25/23 Item 10A
From: Gary the Snail <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 2:50 PM
To: Council Mailbox <[email protected]>
Cc: Santa Monica City Manager's Office <[email protected]> Subject: Council meeting 4/25/23 Item 10A

EXTERNAL
Good afternoon Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers:

I write to you today to express my concern with the proposed mandate of gender‐neutral bathrooms in all new public facilities.

On page one of the staff report, it states that “many do not feel welcome or safe accessing the bathroom of their choice.” Yet there is no mention of the safety concerns of 51% of the population, i.e. women and girls. For women, a bathroom has always been a refuge, a safe space to conduct our private business in private, and sometimes escape from leering eyes, or men who threaten our safety.

As a sexual assault survivor, all I see when I look at the sample designs on page 5 is a predator’s paradise. While I sympathize with trans women and would certainly not support the hateful bathroom bills being passed in some states, I urge you to refrain from trading one group’s comfort and safety for that of a very small minority of adults who can currently access any bathroom that matches their identity. Creating restrooms where men can roam freely in and out is not the solution.

This is hardly the first time Santa Monica has made policy decisions that ignore the interests of girls and women, but this is the first time it has happened with this many women on the dais. How disappointing that the only Councilmember to even bring up these concerns has been Phil Brock.

You are going to sit in a lengthy closed session this evening as witnesses to what happens when predatory behavior is ignored. Please do not leave that session and immediately make a decision that provides predators with the most important tool of their trade – opportunity.

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6 Kind regards,

Shelly Goodman
Arizona Ave
Santa Monica
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From: Abby Mahler <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2023 2:33 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Agenda Item 10A

EXTERNAL
To my City Council‐‐
I am writing in support of Item 10A on Tuesday's agenda for an ordinance requiring multi‐stall gender neutral restrooms in Santa Monica as we are permitted to do through SB 1194, authored by Senator Allen and co‐sponsored by the Cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood. As a lifelong Santa Monica citizen and queer person (indeed, a former SAMOHI GSA President), I find that it should go without saying that all people living in and visiting our community should have access to clean restrooms in which to address needs all humans experience with dignity and respect.

I want to echo what Dan Hall, Natalya Zernitskaya, and Danny Ivanov wrote in the SM Daily Press: "Gender neutral restrooms provide a safer experience for trans and gender non‐conforming people. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that 70% of trans respondents in surveys reported being denied access, verbally harassed, or physically assaulted in public restrooms." Transgender people are a minority population that faces an outsized share of social violence, both explicit acts of transphobia and implicit acts of erasure; by needlessly gendering toilet rooms, we implicitly erase the needs of not only our trans residents, but contribute to a more rigid concept of gender that negatively impacts cisgender people as well.

Further, "and just as importantly," as the SMDP article goes on to say, "gender neutral restrooms have significant accessibility benefits for disabled people, single parents with opposite sex children, caregivers of opposite sex individuals, and for cisgender women by reducing wait times and reducing the social isolation that can more readily exist in separate sex restrooms. Gender neutral restrooms are more cost effective for businesses than having multiple facilities with separate plumbing entry points, sinks, electrical, and design standards, not to mention separate supplies and additional janitorial labor hours."
The aforementioned cost‐effectiveness of the ordinance alone should be a compelling enough argument for leaders always looking for ways to reduce spending; but when our leaders parrot well documented mis‐ and disinformation about gender nonconforming people, an ever more careful consideration should be paid to the less than honorable‐‐ let alone credible‐‐ intentions behind such talking points.

In order to uphold Santa Monica's reputation as a city for all people, and indeed one continuing to strive towards further inclusivity, the Council should have few qualms approving the broadly supported Agenda Item 10A.

Stay Gold,
Abby Mahler
she / they
Digital & Film Photography | abbymahler.com

Please note that it is normal for me to take a few days Item 10.A
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8 to respond to e‐mails during the pandemic. The immense stress this time is having on us all should not be taken lightly, and thus e‐mails will be responded to with commensurate urgency.

Take care of yourself too, please.

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April 25, 2023
Re: Agenda Item 10A
Dear Mayor Davis and City Council Members and staff
Pursuant to SB 1194 authority, the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance fully support staff’s proposal in the gender neutral ordinance (Staff Report Attachment A), which would require all newly constructed buildings for which a complete building permit application for construction is submitted to the City on or after July 1, 2023, to provide inclusive and equitable gender neutral public restrooms in compliance with the design standards stipulated in the ordinance.

As part of its 2021 State Legislative Platform, City Council established priorities to guide policy decisions and regulatory matters, which explicitly included the position to, “support legislation that mandates gender neutral multi-stall bathrooms.” In response to this directive, the Cities of West Hollywood and Santa Monica co-sponsored California Senate Bill 1194 (“SB 1194”), which provides authority to cities to require, by ordinance or resolution, that new and/or renovated public toilet facilities be designed, constructed, and identified for use by all genders instead of the design standards for separate facilities for men and women found in Chapter 4 of the California Plumbing Code (CPC). SB 1194 was signed into law on September 29, 2022, by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The City Council strongly reaffirmed Santa Monica’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion at its March 11, 2023 workshop when it identified Racial Justice, Equity and Social Diversity as one of its five priorities for Fiscal Years 2023-2025. This priority in part states that “all community members shall be provided with access to resources and opportunities, where difference in life outcomes cannot be predicted by race, class, gender, disability, or other identities.” While many of us take reliable, safe bathroom access for granted, many feel unwelcome and unsafe accessing the bathroom of their choice. Gender neutral public restroom access is an imperative, and an important opportunity for the City to demonstrate its commitment to equity, ensuring restrooms are designed to feel safe and accessible by our entire community and all who visit our city.

Feeling excluded leads to not feeling safe using the restroom, an essential human need. That vulnerability influences all aspects of a person’s life and wellbeing, deterring people from accessing education and employment, connecting with friends and community members, seeking medical services, or doing any of the daily mundane things basic and required for everyday life. We should all be aware surveys have repeatedly shown that a large percentage of the trans and gender non-conforming communities avoid public restrooms to the point of altering their diets to avoid having to use public facilities. This is unacceptable in an inclusive society or community, which Santa Monica has worked hard to exemplify for decades. These choices to avoid aspects of public life have shown to have broad negative impacts on mental and physical health. In addition, for families and caregivers with young children of different genders having gender neutral public restroom access provides improved and more equitable access and ensures equitable, private, and secure preferred access for all users.

We trust that the Council will uphold Santa Monica’s egalitarian values as expressed in the Racial Justice, Equity and Social Diversity City priority and adopt the staff’s recommendation. Anything less would let down all of Santa Monica.

Sincerely,
Cynthia Rose Cris Gutierrez
Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance Director, Santa Monica Spoke
SaMoSafeStreets.org
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April 25, 2023
Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis
& City Council Members
1685 Main Street
Santa Monica, California 90401
Dear Mayor Davis and Members of the City Council,
I am writing to express my strong support for Item 10.A. (Gender Neutral Public Restroom Access) on tonight’s City Council agenda. The City of Santa Monica has a long tradition of leadership in advancing civil rights and social justice for our most vulnerable communities, and I want to thank the City for its leadership in, once again, advancing a careful and measured proposal designed to meet the needs of our transgender and non-binary friends and family members, while at the same time assuring the safety and privacy needs of all Santa Monica residents, employees and visitors.

We all share the goal of keeping every member of the community safe while providing for the basic need for restroom access. Restrooms are too often a place of fear, anxiety, and dread for many transgender and gender non-conforming people who feel uncomfortable or unsafe using gender-specific bathrooms.

While the proposal before the City may seem to be new and untested, its provisions are already being implemented voluntarily by many employers, businesses and in many new buildings across the state and country. In fact, the architectural profession has been refining design approaches in which the needs of transgender and non-binary people can be met, and has developed new designs for restrooms that afford every person a private and safe environment. Everyone benefits from these advanced designs that separate urinal areas from other areas of the bathroom, and provide individual toilet rooms that provide privacy, safety and access that are superior compared to gender-separated designs. The only common areas are generally in the areas for handwashing.

As a father myself, I consider the safety and well-being of our kids in every policy decision—all of our kids. All people, including transgender and gender non-conforming adults and kids, have a right to safety, dignity, and privacy in public restrooms. The proposal before the City tonight is thoughtful and measured, and achieves the safety and privacy that everyone, including all women and children, deserve. At a time when transgender and gender non-conforming people are under attack across the country by those who weaponize fear and misinformation for political gain, I am hopeful and confident that all members of the city council will once again embrace the values of respect and inclusion that has been one of the Santa Monica’s hallmarks.

Thank you for considering my perspective as you make this important decision.

Sincerely,
Rick Chavez Zbur
Assemblymember, District 51
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Santa Monica City CouncilApril 25, 2023

Santa Monica City Council
April 25, 2023