By Macy Meinhardt, V&V Reporter, CA Local News Fellow
Amid growing demonstrations at healthcare facilities, worship sites, and school grounds, Mayor Todd Gloria signed an ordinance drafted by the City Attorney’s Office that seeks to further protect citizens from harassment and intimidation while entering these sites.
The item amends a San Diego Municipal Code set in 1997 regarding ‘buffer zones’ at covered facilities. Buffer zones are designed to create a secure space between individuals accessing care, school, or church and those exercising their freedom of speech towards these patrons. The zone is an attempt to “balance often competing rights,” Elliott’s proposal states.
Common instances are observed outside healthcare facilities, such as Planned Parenthood, where people try to discourage those seeking services such as an abortion or gender affirming care by blocking entrances and exits, holding signs, or handing out unwarranted information pamphlets.
“When trans and non- binary folks are trying to access health care, there’s already a lot of anxiety there. There’s already stigma, there’s already barriers to access. And the last thing that we need is someone being harassed and meeting an additional barrier as they’re trying to go in to get that health care,” said David Vance, Senior Manager of advocacy and Civic Engagement at the San Diego LGBT community center.
Schools and churches also fall into this category. During the June 25 press conference, City Attorney Mara Eliott cited instances such as school board members not being able to physically attend meetings due to anti-vaccination protestors blocking the room entrance.
“As a trustee for San Diego Unified, having safe facilities where students and parents can feel comfortable and secure is a very high priority,” said San Diego Unified Board Trustee Sabrina Bazzo at the press conference.
“It is deeply troubling that anyone who blocks the entrances to our schools or tries to intimidate our families, for any reason. And yet, these situations are unfortunately not uncommon,” Bazzo said.
The existing law did not do enough to protect employees, health care providers, patients, students and their guardians from harassment and abuse, the City Attorney’s Office states. It was the burden of the individuals trying to access these sites to tell protestors to stand off. The new law will now require demonstrators to seek consent before they can approach.
Members from Planned Parenthood, the San Diego LGBT center, and San Diego City Councilmembers also joined the city attorney as the mayor signed the ordinance into law.
“Under this law, an individual who wished to exercise their constitutional right to medical care, to educational services or to practice their religion had the legal burden to tell demonstrators to back off. For many this kind of engagement was not an option. They’d simply walk away to avoid confrontation– missing a health appointment, a parent teacher conference or church service [as a result],” said City Attorney Mara Eliott.
If that consent is not maintained or the 100 ft. buffer zone is violated, Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert said that there are “multiple remedies” for recourse available in the new amendments. Law enforcement will now be able to get involved, and entities such as a Planned Parenthood facility or a synagogue will now have the authority to take legal action such as a restraining order on behalf of their patrons, whereas before, that burden was on the individual to do.
“We built in that additional protection in order to empower– churches, schools, places of worship, healthcare facilities– to protect and keep their employees safe, or whoever is trying to access those locations. So there’s just built in extra protection that wasn’t beforehand,” Ferbert said.