Transgender bathroom policy creates beach patrol controversy
OCEAN CITY, Md. - An official in Maryland says the longtime head of the Ocean City Beach Patrol could be disciplined for an email instructing employees to use the locker room that "corresponds to your DNA."
News outlets report that Capt. Butch Arbin wrote in an email to dozens of patrol members Sunday, "If you're NOT SURE go to Target." The retailer's policy allows transgender customers to use the restrooms that match their gender identity.
Arbin says he wasn't trying to make a political statement about transgender people. He says he was responding to female employees' complaints about men who aren't transgender using women's changing facilities out of convenience.
Ocean City spokeswoman Jessica Waters called the email "inappropriate," saying it didn't match official city policy. Waters says Arbin will be sanctioned in some way.
CBS Baltimore reports crews will be staffed 7 days a week to cover the 10-mile stretch of Ocean City's shore.