Some Good News: Washington D.C. Bathroom Campaign

This is what happens when government backs us about bathrooms.

Safe Bathrooms DC
Office of Civil Rights

Public bathrooms are never enjoyable, but for transgender people and many others, using a public bathroom can be a highly stressful and even dangerous experience. In the District of Columbia, we are attempting to reduce that stress by making every single-stall public bathroom in the District gender-neutral. It’s the law,* but currently many businesses are unaware of the requirement, and we need your help to let them know. If you see a public bathroom with one stall that is not gender-neutral, just tweet us the business name and location using #safebathroomsDC, or fill out our five question form. It takes just 20 seconds to play a part in making DC a more enjoyable place for transgender and other communities!

What Can I Do?
If you see a single-stall public bathroom at a restaurant or business, let us know and we will notify the business owner or manager to make sure it gets changed! There are three simple ways you can let us know…
[…]
Why Does Gender-Neutral Matter?
Bathrooms without a designated gender benefit a variety of individuals who are not comfortable or who face mistreatment when accessing gender-specific bathrooms. This includes:
[…]
Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People
Transgender and gender non-conforming people often face stress, anxiety and mistreatment when accessing the gendered bathroom that is appropriate for them. Providing access to a private, non-gendered stall can reduce or even eliminate this burden.

And they are getting down on businesses that are not following the law,

Why Aren’t Businesses Already Following the Law?
The vast majority of business owners whose establishments have “male” or “female” single-stall bathrooms do not mean any harm. Most are simply unaware of the regulations or the effect gender-specific stalls have on particular people, and are happy to make the bathrooms gender-neutral when notified. Additionally, until early 2013, conflicting regulations on the need for gender-neutral bathrooms created confusion among some business owners, and prevented OHR from fully enforcing the regulations. Despite the regulations now being aligned to require gender-neutral bathrooms, many businesses are not yet aware of the update.

It is nice to see a government agency that is pro-active in protecting us. It is so nice to see something besides a legislature that is trying to criminalize us for going to the bathroom.

* All covered entities with single-occupancy restroom facilities shall use gender-neutral signage for those facilities (for example, by replacing signs that indicate “Men” and “Women” with signs that say “Restroom”).   See D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 4. § 802.2 (2006).