Peters wants to ban unisex bathrooms
NZ First leader Winston Peters wants to pass law to protect “women’s spaces”, by banning unisex bathrooms and making it a crime to use a bathroom not designated for a person’s gender.
Peters, who is deputy prime minister in the National-coalition Government, issued a media statementyesterday saying he would be introducing a member’s bill, titled Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill, to Parliament.
The bill will not be voted on in the House unless it is drawn from a ballot of member’s bills, which are entered by parties across the House and are not necessarily supported by the Government of the day.
Promise of the bill immediately drew criticism from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who said it was “just absolutely ridiculous”. “The country has bigger issues to worry about then Winston Peters’ homophobia or transphobia.”
Peters, in the statement, said his party had campaigned on defending “the right to privacy, personal safety, and freedom from harm for all New Zealanders”.
“We have seen a similar move in the United Kingdom this month, with building regulations due to change later this year, making it compulsory to provide separate facilities for men and women for all new restaurants, bars, offices and shopping centres.”
Peters’ proposed bill would outlaw unisex or “mixed-sex” bathrooms in publicly accessible buildings, requiring instead separate and clearly demarcated toilets for women and men.
The bill would also make it an offence for a person to use a toilet not designated for their sex. The bill appeared designed to ease the concerns of groups who believe that transgender people put women at risk.
“We know that there is a silent majority anticipating such legislation,” Peters said.
The NZ First leader may struggle to gain support from his coalition partners for the bill, if it is drawn from the ballot.
During the 2023 election, when Peters raised the toilet policy on the campaign trail, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon did not express support for it, saying instead the policy was “on another planet”.