LYNN — Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) and Pine Hill resident Josh Polonsky testified before the joint committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Tuesday, advocating for legislation that would mandate public spaces — such as restaurants, stores and movie theaters — to have a changing table available in all restrooms.
The legislation itself was filed a few years ago, but the text has been adjusted in different sessions since then.
It was originally filed to mandate changing tables in all restrooms in family restaurants, but has been altered to mimic similar legislation that has been passed in eight states, as well as Washington, D.C., mandating at least one changing station in bathrooms accessible to all genders in any area that is accessible to the public.
Crighton said this is important because changing tables are typically found in mostly women’s restrooms and not men’s, which enforces stereotypes around parental roles and poses an issue for gay couples.
On Oct. 7, 2016, President Barack Obama signed a bill called the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation (BABIES) Act, which requires changing stations be available in both women’s and men’s bathrooms in federal buildings open for public use.
While Crighton said this was a step in the right direction, “it would be much more impactful if, as a state, we joined those eight other states and put (changing tables) in places that families are actually frequenting.”
Polonsky is supporting Crighton in pushing for this legislation to be passed because of his personal experience with his daughter.
When Polonsky’s daughter — who is now 11 — was a baby, he went out to eat at a family restaurant with her and his wife. His daughter had a wet diaper, so he went to the bathroom to change her, but there was no changing station in the men’s room. His wife then brought their daughter to the ladies’ room, but there was no changing table there either.
The floors of both bathrooms were wet, so Polonsky was forced to change his daughter’s diaper under the table.
He said he tried to do this discreetly, but a male customer yelled at him “do you have to do that there?”
This “confrontational” interaction resulted in the manager telling Polonsky that he couldn’t change the diaper there and that he had to go to leave the establishment to do so.
Between the pouring rain and his tightly-packed car — the family was on its way to North Conway for vacation — Polonsky said he had nowhere else to change his daughter’s diaper.
“We ended up finding another restaurant nearby that let us come in to change her diaper,” Polonsky said. “But, at that point, we were disgusted with it and thought that, if you’re a family restaurant with highchairs and a kids’ meal, there needs to be changing space for the kids that are in those high chairs.”
In addition to Crighton, the legislation had previously gained support from Mayor Thomas M. McGee when he was a senator, former state Rep. Steven Walsh and other Lynn residents.
“It very much is a public health issue,” Crighton said. “If you have to change a diaper and you have nowhere to do it, you’re forced to do it on the bathroom floor, on your lap, outside or, if you have one, in your car.”
Polonsky said the car option isn’t a reliable solution to this issue because not everyone owns one; he added that people cannot change their children’s diapers on the bus, train or in rideshare vehicles.
Some changing tables cost around $150 and, with installation, are affordable for most establishments. Implementing such models is a viable solution to this “common-sense policy,” Crighton said.
The next step is for the joint committee to review the bill. Crighton said it usually takes a full two-year session to get a bill to the finish line, so it could possibly be voted on by early next year.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
