DOHERTY AND McHOSE TO INTRODUCE 'INFORMED CONSENT' LEGISLATION FOR PARENTS IN RESPONSE TO STATE'S NEWLY ENACTED ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY

Assemblyman Michael Doherty and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose will introduce “informed consent” legislation requiring the Legislature to inform parents of school children who visit the State House, prior to the visit, of the Legislature’s new “Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.” The new policy, which was arbitrarily imposed on the Legislature by the Assembly Speaker and Senate President, includes “gender identity or expression” as a “protected” group.

The bill will provide that the parent or guardian of any school child who visits the State House on a class trip shall be informed, prior to the trip, that under the new policy the possibility exists that their child will have to share restroom facilities with an adult of the opposite sex. This would occur in the case of an adult male “presenting” as a female or an adult female as a male.

Noting that the policy may be inconsistent with the personal views of parents or guardians of school-age children, Doherty, R-Warren and Hunterdon, explained, “Should a child encounter an adult in a restroom who is of the opposite sex, the state can be held responsible. The Legislative Services Commission members should explain why they passed such a policy when liability issues were raised prior to its passage by Assemblywoman McHose.”

The Commission approved the draft policy for the Office of Legislative Services in December 2008. On March 1, 2009, the Assembly Speaker and Senate President extended the policy to include members of the Legislature, partisan staff, district office employees and all personnel in the Offices of the Senate Secretary and Assembly Clerk.  Members of the Legislature were not informed of the new policy until 50 days later. 

Before the Legislative Services Commission approved the draft policy last December, McHose sent a letter to the Commission’s members expressing a number of concerns, including the possibility that adult males would share restroom facilities with female children.

In the letter, McHose, wrote, “Included in the ‘protected’ groups outlined in the document is ‘gender identity or expression.’ There was a New York City case recently, where a man who ‘expressed’ himself as a woman argued that he should not be excluded from using women’s toilet facilities in furtherance of the ‘expression.’

“Now I’m wondering if, under the proposed policy, it would be considered discrimination or harassment to bar such a man from using the women’s toilet facilities in the State House. I bring this matter to your attention because the Legislature often plays host to busloads of very young school girls who have a need, as children do, to use our toilet facilities.”

Based on subsequent correspondence with state agencies, McHose and others have concluded that the possibility does exist of adult males being permitted to share restroom facilities with female children.

“This is a matter of potential liability to the state,” said McHose, R-Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon. “This undemocratically promulgated policy could lead to a public employee being investigated and disciplined for attempting to bar an adult male from entering a restroom occupied by female children. We have a duty to make parents aware of the environment their children may encounter when visiting the State House.”

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