Opinion: Transgender Rights and Bathroom Access in Nightclubs

2016 has arguably seen America’s politics as divided as ever thanks to hotly contested Presidential primaries that then spilled into the major election battle the entire world is witnessing at this very moment.

One of the many hot issues of this election campaign has been that of transgender rights, a subject that certainly exploded into the mainstream over the course of the year with the issue of bathroom access at the forefront. Specifically the states of Mississippi and North Carolina ignited a lot of anger in the LGBT community and its supporters earlier in the year by passing legislation restricting access based on gender identification.

In America 18 states and Washington, D.C. ban discrimination in public accommodations based on gender identity. Numerous cities also have passed legislation or policies prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of gender identity. You can see the exact information on where each state stands here.

Dance music’s gay DNA is one that can be traced back to the early days of disco and the very roots of the movement that morphed into the global night-time industry that it is today. In 1973 Vince Aletti wrote a piece for Rolling Stone describing the disco evolution in New York City as “After-hours clubs and private lofts open on weekends to members only — a hard-core dance crowd — blacks, Latins, gays”. Aletti was of course talking about David Mancuso’s parties at The Loft, the real ground zero of the disco parties that were taking the city by storm those early years.  DJ Tallulah—a Studio 54 resident DJ—further cemented the pivotal role of the gay community in shaping the nightlife world that we know today saying “The rave lifestyle of Ibiza in the late ‘80s was just a vanilla version of the New York gay lifestyle of the ‘70s.” We must also remember that it was the blacks, gays and latinos in Chicago that took on disco and built house from it — the history of dance music is embedded with the influence of the gay community no matter which decade we decide to examine.

Despite this known history, however, it was in Chicago out of all places that I heard of a disturbing incident that occurred last weekend. Ariel Zetina—a prominent member of both the transgender and nightlife communities in the city—was denied access to a female bathroom at a Northside nightclub, even while having a legal “F” on her ID. When the incident was communicated to her friend and DJ Jarvi who was in the middle of spinning a set at the venue, the latter took a stand against the discrimination and ended her performance. News of the incident which was posted on Facebook began to do the rounds and naturally sparked up several discussions about the subject. It was encouraging to see that an overwhelmingly vast majority of those commenting on social media denounced the incident.

For one, we must presume that the law is on Zetina’s side. Chicago’s City Council has affirmed that transgender people are allowed to access the bathroom that matches their gender identity, as covered by point (e) in Section 2-160-070 of the Chicago Municipal Code (Human Rights Ordinance), which was amended in summer of 2016 to address this exact issue so as to leave no loopholes or ambiguity:

But beyond that, the incident raises questions that every club owner and staff member must confront with regard to the use of bathroom by transgender individuals. Local establishments should follow the law of course, and unless legislation specifically prohibits the practice of allowing transgender people from accessing bathrooms that match their gender identity, every venue ought to adopt internal policies to ensure that anyone that enters their building is not prohibited access to facilities for reasons of color, race, sex, gender or sexual orientation. Such policies must be communicated to all venue staff, including and especially security and bathroom attendants. Further, venue staff must be adequately trained to handle any patrons who object to the implementation of this policy or otherwise actively discriminate patrons who are abiding by it. It should never occur that a transgender club-goer is refused entry to a bathroom based on their gender identity. No patron should ever be subjected to this type of discrimination, period.

It may very well be that what occurred in Chicago was an isolated incident resulting from lack of training on behalf of the specific security member that denied Zetina access to a bathroom she had every right to use. Regardless, it is the responsibility of club owners and their management to ensure that this does not happen and failure to do so inevitably results in PR disasters that can bring an entire venue into disrepute — and with reason. If you work in nightlife you have the moral obligation to not only follow the law, but also to do what is right by a community that was and is such an integral part of the industry you are a part of.

There is no doubt about one thing: as dance music continues to command pop culture, it is key that we never forget where we came from. We must remind ourselves of the roots and ideals that shape our scene, and of the socio-political struggle and outspoken queerness that was and still is so key to the DNA of yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s dance music.