Washington’s gender-identity bathroom law contested

A special legislative committee is being asked to reject a Washington law that allows transgender people to use public restrooms based on their gender identity, not their anatomy.

Rebecca Faust, a Shelton resident and recent student at Eastern Washington University, filed a complaint with the Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee seeking to overturn the administrative law, approved last year by the Human Rights Commission, that states transgender people have the right to use a restroom or other public gender-segregated facility based on their identity.

Faust contends that’s not what the Legislature intended when it passed laws allowing people to be free from discrimination. She made the same argument to the commission after it passed the law, but the commission disagreed and rejected her request. She appealed that decision to Gov. Jay Inslee, who handles direct appeals from the commission, but he also rejected it.

“Washingtonians enjoy a legal right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, including gender identity – a recognized civil right,” Inslee wrote to Faust in rejecting her appeal. “Everyone should feel free to be who they are without fear of discrimination, intimidation or harassment.”

Efforts to overturn the law in this year’s legislative session also failed.

Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, who has been critical of the gender-identity law, is chairman of the joint committee. It meets infrequently but has the authority to review administrative laws to determine whether they meet lawmakers’ intent when a bill originally passed.

If a majority of the panel decides it does not match the legislative intent, the panel can require the agency to hold hearings, and can file a formal objection to it. It also can recommend the governor suspend the rule until the next legislative session.

The committee just received Faust’s complaint Tuesday. It could bring the complaint up at the next committee meeting, which has not yet been scheduled but is expected to be held in June.