County Settles With Iowa Transgender Woman Over Restroom Complaint

A transgender woman and Johnson County, Iowa, have reached a settlement over her civil rights complaint after a sheriff's deputy removed her from a women's restroom in the county courthouse.

M. Dru Levasseur, Lambda Legal's Transgender Rights Project Director, tells the Cedar Rapids Gazette that equal access to public restrooms for transgender people is a national issue that needs greater public awareness:

About 12 percent of the 7,000 calls Lambda Legal receives each year concern transgender issues, and many of those deal with bathrooms, he said. Violence and harassment are very real concerns for transgender people, he said, and confrontations in bathrooms can lead to unsafe situations.

“That is definitely a very important topic that we are working on,” Levasseur said.

Read the full article here.