Right Wing Wants Trans Lawmaker Banned From 'Ladies Room'
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
October 27, 2006 - 5:00 pm ET

(Rome) A long simmering dispute over the use of the women's bathroom by a transsexual member of Italy's Parliament erupted into a full scale battle on Friday

Elisabetta Gardini, a member of the right-of-center opposition, got into a shouting match with Vladimir Luxuria, the first transsexual elected to a European Parliament when Gardini walked into the washroom and discovered Luxuria emerging from a stall.

"You can't use this lavatory. This is the women's bathroom," Luxuria says Gardini yelled at her.

Luxuria is demanding an apology. Gardini has fired off a letter to the government demanding the pre-operative transsexual be banned from the ladies room.

"I saw him there and I really felt sick," she told reporters. "He should have a bathroom just for himself," she said.

Luxuria called her own news conference to accuse the right wing politician of trying to make political points with her conservative coalition members.
"I have been using women's bathrooms for years. I would have never expected an attack with such violent tones," Luxuria said. "It would be very embarrassing for me to use the men's bathroom. For me, and for the men themselves."

The dispute over the bathroom has been ongoing since March when she was elected.

In May, as the new Parliament began meeting members of the right-of-center first called for a separate washroom. At the time Luxuria called it "toilet apartheid".

Luxuria was one of five LGBT candidates elected to the Italian parliament - all members of Prodi's center-left. (story)

She is a popular fixture in Rome's LGBT community. She was a cabaret performer and in 1994 organized the county's first gay pride march.
Luxuria promised her Rome constituents she would fight for LGBT rights including the legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

Her party leader, Romano Prodi, has been a supporter of moderate rights for same-sex couples since last July when he met with gay activists, but he opposes gay marriage. (story)
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