Lansing law criminalizing ‘opposite sex’ restroom sees likely repeal

A resolution to repeal part of Lansing’s restroom ordinance seems likely to pass, following strong public support at a public hearing.

Eight people showed up Monday to back the repeal of what they considered a law harmful to the transgender community.

The 1986 ordinance makes it a crime to enter the restroom of the “opposite sex.” The law is not currently enforced, according to Council member Brian T. Jackson, who said its repeal would have little effect since other laws criminalizing bad behavior in restrooms would remain on the books.

“This is not a free rein to go in the bathrooms and do anything,” said Jackson, a trial attorney. “You still can’t do anything illegal.”

One person also spoke virtually in favor of the repeal, and 12 wrote to support it.

“With how the federal administration is galvanizing the country against people like me, I would feel safer if this ordinance was not hanging over my head,” said Tai Heitzeg, a trans woman and city employee.

“One of the things I love about Lansing is the opportunity it has provided me,” Heitzeg said. “I would be forced to the margins of society in most places, but here I get to serve my community and local governments.”

Ward 1 resident Bridget McConaughy called repealing the ordinance a “simple, yet profound” move “to remove ambiguity and to remove a threat that persists for those of us who have to think about whether or not it is safe to enter the restroom.”

McConaughy also said the change would bring Lansing’s city ordinances in line with the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which in 2023 was amended to include protections for gender identity.

Verena Courtney, meanwhile, expressed that the move would benefit cisgender people as well. She cited Dani Davis, a woman who was fired from a Walmart in Florida after a man mistakenly assumed she was trans and berated her in the women’s bathroom.

“Human bodies are not one-size-fits-all,” Courtney said. “There are so many different body types and any woman could be subject to harassment for their hair, having a certain type of bone structure, their size, and ordinances like these encourage witch hunts and harassment.”

Only one person, Linda Lee Tarver, spoke against the repeal. Tarver argued the ordinance should be expanded to include transgender people rather than repealing it altogether, because repealing ordinances “can lead to legal uncertainty and unintended consequences.”

Tarver argued that “there would be no gendered bathrooms” if the ordinance were repealed.

Other cities in the greater Lansing area do not have such ordinances and maintain gendered bathrooms. Additionally, some state departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, explicitly allow transgender people to use the restroom of their choice.

The repeal may have been routine in previous years, but trans restroom access has been a hot-button issue in the so-called political “culture war.” 

In February, the University of Cincinnati changed its restroom signage to “biological men” and “biological women,” though they were changed following protests. Last month, a transgender college student was arrested in Florida after she notified law enforcement that she would use the women’s bathroom in Florida’s Capitol. The act of civil disobedience was meant to ridicule the law under which she was arrested.

Jackson noted that statistics show transgender people are in more danger from cisgender people in bathrooms than the inverse.

One speaker, Alyssa Tersack, said the ordinance’s repeal “might feel like a small, simple act,” but the message of acceptance was anything but.

“I hope you know what a big signal it sends to the community,” she said.