At a safety briefing today, September 18, Mayor Eric Adams was asked to elaborate on something he said the previous day: that he doesn’t support boys going in to the same bathroom with little girls.

His initial remarks could not be clearer.

“We’re going to always respect how one identifies themselves. But my utmost importance is to ensure that when my children are in school, they’re in there in a safe environment. And I do not believe a safe environment is allowing boys and girls to use the same facility at the same time,” Adams said.

Adams is correct. UN Women, UNICEF, and WaterAid have all studied the importance of girls having access to a safe, sanitary toilet at school. When girls don’t feel safe going to the bathroom in their school building, they drop out. They need private spaces to use the bathroom and change their pads.

But as the NYC Public School Guidelines on Gender Inclusion assert, “students must be provided access to facilities consistent with their gender identity asserted at school.”

That means all a boy has to do is say “I’m a girl” and NYC public schools have to let him into the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms.

This is an extreme violation of women’s sex-based rights. It should not be happening in our city.

ROAR Women NYC has proudly spoken in support of previous efforts to revisit the misguided gender-based policies that put boys in girls’ restrooms and locker rooms. Attempts by the District 2 Community Education Council to properly advocate for girls’ education rights dragged on for months as anti-woman members of the council derailed every meeting with motions to rescind it, and the angry, howling mobs of anti-woman activists their efforts drew made international news.

Addressing this problem will be difficult, since a recent constitutional amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, makes it nearly impossible to advocate for women’s rights in New York State. The definition of “sex” in our state constitution has been modified to include “gender identity” and “gender expression.” That is, keeping men who claim to be women out of women’s spaces is “discrimination.”

Let’s put that another way. If a man with a fully intact penis walks into a women’s locker room, disrobes, and a woman with a young daughter complains, the state has to side with the man.

Said Adams, “I think that we have become so politically correct that we are incorrect.”

We agree.

But then the statement gets confusing. He says “boys and girls should not be in the same bathroom at the same time,” then clarifies that “you said that they stated it should be around identity. I don’t have an issue with that. They can’t be there at the same time. I go into restaurants and it says men and women could use the same facility, but we’re not in there at the same time.”

It’s not clear whether Adams is talking about single-occupancy restrooms—which are fine—or saying that if a boy wants to use the multi-stall girls’ room, he should still be allowed to if there are no girls around. We will keep an eye out and update this page if he clarifies.

Maud Maron, who has been a vocal women’s rights advocate during her campaign for District Attorney, could certainly help him pin down the messaging. So could we. Because reasonable policies such as keeping boys out of the girls’ room are exactly what the city needs right now.

Call to Action!

You can contact Mayor Eric Adams here.

The form restricts messages to 500 characters. Thank him for finally acknowledging that little girls feel uncomfortable sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with boys. Or for standing up for Title IX and women’s equal right to access education.

If you have favorite resources on the issue, send them to him!

ROAR Women NYC is a dissident women’s group in the NYC metro area seeking to restore women’s sex-based rights. Check out our resource pages on women’s sports and women’s prisons to learn more about the fight.