I got a 1 year well paid temp job in Houston, Texas, unless I mess up. But while here I packed 7 of my best skirt suits and some casual wear with me. Problem is - if I get read or caught in a mall, store, or women's washroom -- is that illegal? Is Texas antigay / anticrossdresser?
I don't want to go to prison as I know no one here who would bail me out. So I have to avoid trouble as much as possible!
http://www.transgenderlegal.com/proc1-1.htmOriginally Posted by Jesse69
The City of Houston used to have an ordinance No. 28-42.4 that prohibited people from wearing clothes of the opposite sex. Ray Hill told us about it last night. It was not only used against our community, but it was used against anybody that the cops in the vice squad didn't like, and quite often it was used whenever the cops would raid a lesbian bar. They would arrest women wearing fly front or zipper front pants. Figure that out. It was used.
On August the 12th, 1992, twelve full years had passed since the Houston City Council's repeal of that section of the code of ordinances.
Interpretations of the laws are many and varied. Stay out of the women's restrooms, just to be sure. Otherwise, even if crossdressing is against the law, the police in Houston are way to busy to worry about it.
Crossdressing is not illegal in Houston. The TG community here has an excellent relationship with the local police. In fact one of our own is a sargeant with the Houston PD. We meet with them on a regular basis to make certain there are no problems. From my experience in visiting many cites enfemme worldwide, I can assure you that Houston is as open to TG's as any city in the country. If you are going to be in Houston on April 14 come to our 15th annual TG Unity Banquet at the Westchase Hilton which will be attended by over 200 with some elected officials as wll as police reps present. Houston has 6 TG organizations with over 200 participating monthly. I know of no other city in the world that has 6 TG groups that work together.
Last edited by Melanie R; 03-25-2007 at 09:11 PM.
I love being "gender gifted"! www.pmpub.com
The answer to your question is NO. It is not illegal to crossdress in Houston or anywhere in Texas for that matter. I could be wrong but it seems to me that it would be a violation of your constitutional rights to tell you how to dress.Country Girl GG
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Using the women's washroom is always risky except in the very few states that have transgender protection laws. Looking at some of the other writings on that www.transgenderlegal.com page (especially "Chapter 22"), it appears that historically people did in fact get arrested for "using the wrong washroom".
I'm in Canada, not the USA, so I can't say what the specific risks are in the USA.
In Canada, there is a general criminal law against "wearing a disguise in the commission of a crime", but "wearing a disguise" is not itself a crime. We have to ask then what crime is possible to be imputed under the circumstances. As far as I have been able to come up with in Canada, the only applicable federal law ("Canada Criminal Code") would be those against voyeurism. Thus, someone who disguised himself as a woman to sneak in to the womens changeroom at (say) a health club (where there migth be nudity as women changed and showered and dressed) would have a base crime of voyeurism and could potentially have the "disguise" charge added on.
So in any washroom situation, a key factor would be the expectation of seeing undressed women. In a single-person washroom, that expectation would be zero, and no voyeurism charge could be sustained (provided you didn't leave spy apparatus there!). In a multi-stall washroom in (say) a department store, the expectation would still be quite low. In a nightclub environment, the expectation of the possibility of nudity might be higher, as women there have a higher probability of washing up spills, adjusting their skirt or pantyhose, possibly even adjusting their breasts to sit properly in something low-cut -- or maybe even trading clothes. But nothing is certain -- an an almost empty office-building multi-stall, the next person in might be intent on some personal stress relief, not caring if another women hears but horrified if a GM hears. Canadian voyeurism laws do not judge by whether you did in fact see something: they judge by whether you deliberately placed yourself where you knew or should reasonably have known there was a reasonable likelyhood of invading "reasonable expectations of privacy". So if you accidently see/hear something where it wasn't likely you would, you'd possibly have to answer some questions but it probably wouldn't stick. (Oh, and watch out for breast-feeding mothers. In Canada, it is legal to breast-feed openly in public, but a lot of women prefer to breastfeed in the washroom.)
The advice I've seen sometimes is that if you want to be really sure, don't use a women's washroom unless you are carrying a doctor's letter. But in Canada, at least, it's unlikely that using a single-user washroom should give any problems.
Think of it this way: you've probably been in restaurants where the mens room wasn't working, so everyone was expected to use the single-user women's washroom. Nothing illegal about that.
One final bit to think about: if you were to ask staff to direct you to the washroom and you were "passing" enough that they directed you to the women's washroom, then tis not your fault, right? "This is where I was told to go."
Thanks for the replys. I'll just try to avoid the washroom or else be quick there.
That TG banquet - is that for people who had sex changes or for crossdressers too? Is there a web link for it and how much does it costs?
Reading further at http://www.transgenderlegal.com/proc1-1.htm at some undated material, possibly now changed. With respect to Houston:
Crossdressing, as Phyllis told you, was illegal in the City of Houston since 1904 until 1980 when the ordinance was repealed. We really do owe Phyllis a debt of thanks and gratitude for her work in repealing that ordinance. There are still ordinances on the books, restroom ordinances that do not require some type of culpable mental state or some intent to disturb and disrupt, that can still be used to harass those in the transgender community.
The Unity Banquet is for all within the TG community including CD's, TS's and all TG's. The web site is www.htuc.org.The tickets are $50 and $60 at the door. You can order tickets on the web site.
I love being "gender gifted"! www.pmpub.com
In Canada, there is a general criminal law against "wearing a disguise in the commission of a crime", but "wearing a disguise" is not itself a crime. We have to ask then what crime is possible to be imputed under the circumstances. As far as I have been able to come up with in Canada, the only applicable federal law ("Canada Criminal Code") would be those against voyeurism. Thus, someone who disguised himself as a woman to sneak in to the womens changeroom at (say) a health club (where there migth be nudity as women changed and showered and dressed) would have a base crime of voyeurism and could potentially have the "disguise" charge added on.
So in any washroom situation, a key factor would be the expectation of seeing undressed women. In a single-person washroom, that expectation would be zero, and no voyeurism charge could be sustained (provided you didn't leave spy apparatus there!). In a multi-stall washroom in (say) a department store, the expectation would still be quite low.
In most states in the U.S. it is against the law, as in Canada, to wear a disguise in the commission of a crime. That said, crossdressing is NOT a crime unless the crossdressing is for the purpose of hiding your identity while committing a crime -- or unless it can be proved that one crossdressed with the intent of committing a crime. Increasingly law enforcement departments/agencies are receiving training that, in part, attempt to teach them that many people crossdress for a variety of perfectly legal reasons. Those receiving such training are also taught that if they initiate a stop on a crossdressed person, they should handle the situation with sensitivity. After all, crossdressing in the United States should well be considered as a protected activity under the freedoms of the First Amendment (speech, and by extension, non-verbal expression).
I agree that, on one side of the spectrum, a CD needs to be vigilant so as to not place themselves in a situation where they could be charged with something like voyeurism. While there may not be statutes and codes against crossdressing (except for situations like using it to disguise yourself during the commission of a crime), and while many law enforcement agencies and departments are receiving the training I mentioned, it has to be acknowledged that there are some police officers who are overly zealous and some who are prejuidiced. Therefore, simple common sense MUST rule your actions! Like the example given earlier (a club dressing room), it could be easily argued that the gg's had a reasonable expecttion of privacy, and that the CD had knowledge or constructive knowledge that they were violating that expectation. (Constructive knowledge is where you might not have actual knowledge of something, but, by a reasonable person standard, it is concluded that you should have known and therefore can be held accountable.)
If your worried about it, call the police station and ask. I'm guessing it's not. Of course imo it is legal cause well... unless they are pulling every pants wearing women off the street in jail.
Women who wear pants and skirts are shocked, just shocked a husband would do the same thing.
That doesn't stop a dizzying array of unconstitutional laws being on the books. People have been arrested MANY times in the past for dressing in clothes of the opposite sex.The answer to your question is NO. It is not illegal to crossdress in Houston or anywhere in Texas for that matter. I could be wrong but it seems to me that it would be a violation of your constitutional rights to tell you how to dress.
That said, I don't think it's illegal anymore in any jurisdiction in the United States. There's places where it is definitely more socially illegal though.
-BB
I'm finding it difficult to find definitive answers on this.
I have found a number of places that claim that it is illegal to crossdress in New Jersey, but they might have all been copying from each other, and I find reference to a proposed (possibly passed by now) gender equality law for New Jersey.
www.idiotlaws.com claims that crossdressing is illegal in Durango Colorado; not specifics.
http://www.idiotlaws.com/you-must-ob...-crossdresser/
quotes a 1959 California law that requires a permit for MTF crossdressing; it wouldn't surprise me if that's been changed.
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