LGBT ACTIVIST AIMS TO SCRUB LAW

1966 law prohibiting cross-dressing hasn’t been enforced in decades, but still sends wrong message, she says

There’s an old law in National City, buried in its Municipal Code, that prohibits anyone from “impersonating members of the opposite sex.”

The city passed Section 10.32 in 1966 and made it illegal to be “in apparel, and/or make-up customarily worn by a member of the opposite sex,” while also buying alcoholic beverages, entering a restroom for members of the opposite sex, or practicing “any form of deception on another person.”

The law is unconstitutional and invalid under state law, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, so National City hasn’t enforced it in decades. But it is still on the books.

A local activist and member of the LGBT community, Coyote Moon, recently found the law by accident.

“I was shocked,” Moon said. “It’s 2020. How is this still in the books?”

Moon was actually looking for the city’s sign ordinance because she’d seen City Council campaign signs on public property and wanted to “pull a Karen and have them taken down.”

But when she discovered 10.32, Moon reached out to Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis and Councilwoman Mona Rios. The two elected officials placed a repeal ordinance on Tuesday’s agenda. At that meeting, the City Council unanimously voted to repeal the law. The vote simply introduced the repeal ordinance. The council will vote to actually implement the ordinance on Oct. 20 and the repeal will go into effect after a mandatory 30-day waiting period.

Before the vote, most of the conversation revolved around the procedural nature of the repeal. City Attorney Angil Morris-Jones said it was “just a housekeeping measure,” after noting that the law hadn’t been enforced in years because state laws that supersede local laws made it obsolete.

“It should be noted that it is not unusual for a city that is over 130 years old to find out that they have