There should be no gender discrimination, not even in restrooms in West Hollywood, according to the local council.
The Los Angeles suburb passed an ordinance last June requiring all of its restaurants, businesses, and other public places with single stalls to implement a gender-neutral restroom.
The ordinance finally took effect on Thursday and West Hollywood, which has a significant number of gay and transgender residents, can now freely use single-stall restrooms no matter what their gender is.
The said law "mandates that any facility designed for use by no more than one person not be restricted to a specific sex or gender identity by signage, design or installation of fixtures," according to ABC News.
This means that restrooms with only one stall should not be restricted to just a specific sex but rather accommodate to all sexes. However, the ordinance does not apply to restrooms with multiple stalls.
Existing businesses have been given 60 days to make the necessary changes while new ones are required to implement it immediately.
Some of the changes include replacing gender-specific signage with gender-neutral ones.
"Gender-specific restrooms can be unwelcoming and potentially unsafe for many people whose gender identity falls outside of traditional gender norms," said a city statement released this week.
The city said the law will be especially beneficial to "people with disabilities or with personal attendants, people with children of a different gender, and to the many people who have waited in line for a gender-specific restroom."
West Hollywood's ordinance came after an attack occurred in a Cal State Long Beach restroom back in 2010, when a student was pushed into a bathroom stall and had "it" carved onto his chest by the attacker.
Moreover, this is not the first time that such a law has been passed. Back in 2006, Washington DC passed a law pushing for gender-neutral restrooms. The same law was passed back in 2013 in Philadelphia, which required new or renovated city-owned buildings to include gender-neutral bathrooms.
