CHICAGO (AP) — Transgender people in Chicago will be able to use a public bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity under an ordinance passed by the city’s aldermen.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the change in Chicago’s human rights ordinance, approved Wednesday, closed a legal loophole that could “inadvertently” allow restaurants, hotels and other “public accommodations” to discriminate against transgender people.
Before Wednesday’s action, the ordinance, among the first in the nation that included gender identity as a protected class, exempted bathrooms. It required people to use the bathroom matching the sex on their government-issued identification.
Equality Illinois CEO Brian Johnson, a gay rights organization, says the passage of the ordinance is about more than public accommodations, saying “it is about standing up for the dignity of all Chicagoans.”
