By Ghirlandi Guidetti, Staff Attorney

Like many people in Chicago, I use public restrooms almost every day, sometimes several times in a day. My use of these facilities is entirely unremarkable and unmemorable. In my work on behalf of transgender clients as a legal fellow with the ACLU of Illinois’ LGBT & HIV Project, I’ve become all too familiar with the troubling and often devastating discrimination faced by transgender people in Illinois. I have personally seen how widespread ignorance and intolerance towards members of this community casts a dark shadow over the lives of people who have done nothing wrong – people who just want to live their lives being true to themselves and respected for who they are.

Because of my work, I’ve found that I can no longer use the restroom without thinking about how what for most people is ordinary and forgettable (as it should be) is a source of significant anxiety, fear, and even danger for members of our community and visitors to our City who are transgender or gender-nonconforming. Things are even worse currently in Chicago when it comes to the stress transgender people face because of a Chicago ordinance that currently empowers owners and managers of restaurants, bars, and other places serving the public to stop people they perceive as transgender and ask them for an ID before they can use the restroom.

On Wednesday, the City Council will vote on an ordinance amending the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance (HRO) to correct this problem. Among other things, the HRO prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in places of public accommodation. However, the law lets those who own or manage sex-segregated housing, single-sex schools, as well as public restrooms, locker rooms and health clubs embarrass and harass people they perceive as transgender by demanding proof of gender. The proposed change to the ordinance eliminates that loophole so that the HRO fully protects transgender people from discrimination by places that are open to the public. The idea behind the change is simple: everyone should have access to appropriate facilities without fear of being harassed. In other words, the change extends to everyone in our City the ability to have an unremarkable and unmemorable trip to the restroom.

Even after this change in law takes effect, people who are transgender will continue to face ignorance and discrimination. And I will continue my work with the ACLU to address those issues. But in Chicago at least, we will all be able to use the restroom without fear of embarrassment or harassment.

Read the text of the proposed ordinance.

The horrific events over the weekend in Orlando shock the conscience. The attacks at the Pulse nightclub are made worse, if that is possible, by the reality that the victims were targeted because they were lesbian, gay or transgender.

Sadly, the pain of the massacre was only increased by the perverse attempt of those seeking public office to use the spotlight created by the tragic events to sow seeds of division. We hear calls to ban all immigrants and newcomers from particular nations, without regard to the reality that many of these individuals may be fleeing war, not seeking to spread violence. We see veiled suggestions that we should round up immigrants from Muslim nations, rekindling images of the internment camps during World War II. In short, we hear radical suggestions and heated rhetoric but little in the way of meaningful solutions to the violence targeted at the LGBT community or the threats of terrorism.

We must reject this rhetoric. Rather than see this moment as an excuse to divide, we must redouble our efforts to secure fairness and humane treatment for all persons across America and in Illinois. That has always been the work of the ACLU and it is more critical today than ever before.

The ACLU will continue to work for fair treatment of all persons within our borders, including newcomers. The ACLU will fight and challenge efforts to discriminate based on religion, or to tar all those of any religion as dangerous. And, we will continue to stand up for the rights of the LGBT community, including fighting laws that discriminate against those who are transgender.

Each of us grieves at the tragic stories emerging from Orlando. Lives are forever changed by this senseless violence – spouses and children will never come home. But grief and sadness, along with the anger and vitriol of demagogues, cannot stop us from pursuing a more perfect union.

As always, we appreciate your support and participation in this necessary work.