A group is threatening San Francisco with a lawsuit over an open-air urinal that was installed in the city's Dolores Park last month following complaints that too few public bathrooms in the area were leading people to "go" outdoors.
But Fox News reports that the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative-leaning civil liberties nonprofit group, isn't happy with the city's solution, with president Brad Dacus saying, "This is a new low even for San Francisco. It is also blatantly illegal."
The open-air urinal consists of a semi-circular concrete block with mesh-wiring around it and a white screen in the front.
PJI says that the urinal's drainage hole running to the sewer exposes people in the area to offensive odors, and that the urinal raises privacy issues.
Their letter to the city says, "Not only are the privacy rights of those having to publically relieve themselves in the sewer hole abridged, but the privacy rights of individuals who happen to come upon the one urinating is also violated."
They also claim the facility is discriminatory against women, since it was designed for men and it's therefore harder and less private for women to use, and point out there's no place for users to wash their hands.
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