Cebu City Council to push for designated gender-neutral rooms in establishments

CEBU CITY, Philippines —The Cebu City Council is pushing for business establishments in the city to have designated gender-neutral bathrooms to encourage inclusivity.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, the author of the resolution, said that Cebu City has passed an ordinance in 2012 that prohibits the discrimination of people on the basis of disability, age, health staud, sexual orientation and gender identity, enthnicity, and religion, two years before Quezon City passed its own version of the ordinance.

Dizon said thay Cebu City has the first anti-discriminatory ordinance in the country yet its implementation has not been fully realized.

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The resolution was passed amid the controversy of a transwoman who was kicked out of a female restroom in an establishment in Quezon City on August 17, 2019.

Dizon said Cebu City has to protect its transgender constituents. He urged the shop owners, restaurants, terminals, supermarkets, moviehouses, and other establishments to designate a gender-neutral restroom to avoid a similar incident such as what happened in Quezon City.

Read: ‘All gender restrooms’ being set up in seaport terminals — PPA

In a regular session on Tuesday afternoon, August 20, 2019, the Cebu City Council approved the resolution of Dizon urging business managements to comply with the city’s anti-discriminatory ordinance. 

Furthermore, the council has decided to call the stakeholders of the city to discuss this matter in an executive session. 

The council wants to create more legislation to require Cebu City establishments to designate gender-neutral bathrooms, but the councilors need the opinion of the stakeholders. 

The executive session has yet to be set, but the council will be inviting establishment owners to speak their side on the issue. /bmjo