The city of Odessa, Texas has placed a potential $10,000-plus effective bounty on the head of any trans person perceived to be using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity as opposed to their “biological sex.”
The bounty ordinance passed in a five-to-two vote by the City Council on October 22 says that any person that isn’t involved in local or state government may sue a trans person for not using the bathroom that corresponds with the “biological sex” on their birth certificate for myriad perceived injustices including “statutory damages in an amount of not less than $10,000 for each violation of this ordinance.”
There have also been criminal punishments put in place for trans people who use the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity, labeling the action as a Class C misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of up to $500. Any pushback against this will result in misdemeanor trespassing. There are no provisions or exceptions for disabled people who may require the assistance of a caretaker in the restroom.
This is, unfortunately, not the first bathroom ban against trans people to be enacted in the United States — the states of Utah and Florida have put similar ones in place with varying levels of perverted ‘success’, and states like North Dakota and Ohio have riders on bills for bathroom bans that aren’t yet fully legally backed. Independent journalist Erin Reed, who broke this story, drew parallels between the strategy utilized in Texas’ abortion ban and this new bathroom ban, as both employ citizens to do the work of law enforcement and turn neighbors into spies.
Alexander Ermels, president of the Midland/West Texas chapter of PFLAG and a trans man himself, says in his public testimony against the ordinance, “It is not only unnecessary but also a complete waste of the city’s time, money and resources.” Johnathan Gooch, communications director for Equality Texas, speaks to the Texas Tribune on the matter: “It enables vigilantes just to target anyone that they don’t think matches the type of gender expression they expect to see in the bathroom, and that is truly insane.”
