A New York City executive order underscoring the requirement that city agencies allow transgender persons to use any restroom they choose is among the latest round of cultural challenges to which believers are responding.
In other developments, Georgia’s Republican governor has suggested his opposition to a bill that would allow wedding vendors to decline service to same-sex couples based on religious convictions; Hawaii legislators are considering a proposal to ban licensed counselors from attempting to help minors overcome same-sex attraction; and Alabama’s Supreme Court dismissed a set of petitions requesting enforcement of the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order March 7 that bans city employees from requesting identification or any other proof of gender before allowing individuals into public restrooms, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.
The order applies to 55 municipal buildings, including locker rooms at pools and recreation centers, The Wall Street Journal reported. The city already had laws in place allowing transgender individuals to use any restrooms they chose at any public accommodation, according to NPR.
“Today’s order makes it clear that New York City fully supports the right of every New Yorker to use the single-sex facility consistent with their gender identity,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said according to his news release. “New York City is the birthplace of the fight for LGBT rights, and we continue to lead in that fight so every New Yorker can live with dignity.”
In addition to announcing the executive order, de Blasio’s release stated “that any employer, housing provider or public accommodation that denies access to bathroom or single sex facilities based on gender identity can be prosecuted for violation of the NYC Human Rights Law.”
Ray Parascando, pastor of Crossroads Church in the New York borough of Staten Island, told Baptist Press the city’s restroom policy places children at risk and exemplifies a pattern of “one-way tolerance” that discriminates against Christian beliefs and morals.
“You put children at risk, especially in parks, if you’re going to have somebody who thinks they’re a guy going into a little boys’ bathroom and vice versa,” Parascando said.
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SOURCE: Baptist Press
David Roach
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