link (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-10-27T173352Z_01_L27846584_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-ITALY-TRANSGENDER-BATHROOM.XML)
The thorny question rocked Italy's lower house, home to Europe's first ->-bleeped-<- MP, on Friday.
"You can't use this lavatory. This is the women's bathroom," Vladimir Luxuria reported being told by centre-right lawmaker Elisabetta Gardini on Friday, triggering a spat that forced the speaker of parliament to intervene.
Born male, Luxuria wears women's clothes but has not had sex-change surgery. Elected for the centre-left in April, the 40-year-old former drag queen and defender of gay rights prefers to be called "she".