Christians Suing San Francisco to Remove Public Urinals

A civil complaint was filed by the San Francisco Chinese Christian Union for the removal of Dolores Park’s urinals.

A San Francisco religious group is to remove the recently-installed pissoirs from a popular area park, reports CBS News San Francisco.

Christians Suing San Francisco to Remove Public Urinals[/tweetthis]

In case you didn’t know, a pissoir is an open-air, circular, concrete urinal. The Chinese Christian Union of San Francisco is against them for several reasons, among them the fact that the only privacy is provided by plants and screening, they give off “offensive odors,” have no “hand-washing facilities,” and they are “offensive to manners and morals.”

The complaint also states that the facilities discriminate against women and the disabled and inflicts upon those who use it “shame and embarrassment.”

The City Attorney’s office said it will fight the litigation, explaining that local residents requested that the city install pissoirs to discourage park-goers from urinating on walls, in the bushes, and on sidewalks. The statement also noted that the park is renowned for its “counter culture and immodest sunbathers.” City spokesman Matt Dorsey said he could have predicted 100 other things the Chinese Christian Union would have complained about before the new relief system.

This is not the first formal complaint levied against the urinals, which were installed in February. The Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal defense not-for-profit, issued the city a cease-and-desist letter stating that the pissoirs violate the privacy rights of users and those forced to watch them.

This is not San Francisco’s first attempt to curb public urination. In 2002, they upped the fine for the crime to $500, but that didn’t do much to help the problem. Last summer, the city painted about 30 walls with a paint that was specially designed to spray urine back on the offending party.

The Chinese Christian Union, labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-LGBT hate group,” also says that the more than $20 million price tag is a waste of taxpayer money, while District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener said that the project was necessary to give the public another relief option when lines at the already underserviced public restrooms were too long. 

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