“Hobby Lobby argues that it was simply acting as a reasonable employer and enforcing its rules about separate bathrooms by keeping a male out of the women’s bathroom, but Hobby Lobby itself recognizes that Sommerville is female.

“The only reason that Sommerville is barred from using the women’s bathroom is that she is a transgender woman, unlike the other women (at least, as far as Hobby Lobby knows).”.

Jorgensen-three white, cisgender, heterosexual, conservative women in their 60s and 70s. Here are the four key findings by Appellate Court Justice Mary Seminara-Schostok, who was joined unanimously by fellow Appellate Court Justices Kathryn E. The appellate court rejected all of these claims Hobby Lobby made in its argument for the so-called right to discriminate against Sommerville. The company also argued that she could use the ladies room if she underwent gender affirming surgery and if she changed her birth certificate Lawyers for Hobby Lobby claimed that by blocking her access to the ladies room, the store was protecting women. In its arguments, Hobby Lobby unsuccessfully claimed Sommerville, who came out to family in 2009 and transitioned at work in 2010, could simply use the unisex bathroom it installed in 2013. In July 2021, a federal judge blocked Tennessee from enforcing a law requiring businesses to post a signs, warning customers that transgender patrons may use the bathrooms matching their gender identity. It was built around the slogan: “No Men in Women’s Bathrooms.” A repeal that didn’t remedy all of the contentious issues was enacted the following year.Īs The Atlantic reported, an anti-discrimination ordinance in Houston, Texas was soundly defeated in 2015 mostly because of a successful fear-mongering campaign, perpetuating the myth that allowing trans women into ladies rooms would put cisgender women and girls at risk of male predators. North Carolina’s infamous HB2 law, which restricted the use of public bathrooms to the sex on birth certificates, flushed away $600 million in lost revenue in 2016, resulting from boycotts of state businesses and events. AP Photo/Pat Sullivan ASSOCIATED PRESS A Brief History of Bathroom BattlesĮfforts to prevent transgender people from using public bathrooms that match their gender identity are nothing new, of course.

Equal Rights Ordinance outside an early voting center in Houston. 21, 2015 file photo, a demonstrator holds a sign against the Houston.

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