(ATLANTA, Ga.) More than 100 single-occupancy restrooms in Atlanta will be transitioning to gender-neutral restrooms.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms plans to sign an administrative order this month to convert restrooms spanning from City Hall to the Atlanta airport. The order, if approved, will allow the Department of Enterprise Assets Management to change restroom signage for the two facilities and others across the city.
Bottoms is working to get the signage approved and changed by June 28, the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall riots were a series of demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid in New York City.
“In keeping with her vision for One Atlanta, the mayor has prioritized the safety and dignity of our trans and non-binary community, and believes that city facilities should be safe, welcoming spaces for all people,” Malik Brown, the city’s LGBTQ affairs director, told Project Q Atlanta in a prepared statement.
Bottoms and her administration worked on the signage project in coordination with the Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board and the Human Rights Campaign, according to Brown.
Once updated, restroom signage will read, “Anyone can use this restroom, regardless of gender identity or expression.”
According to city officials, the project also aims to increase accessibility for parents and guardians of children of different genders from their own and people with disabilities who need assistance and are attended by those of a different gender.
“The designation of single-occupancy restrooms for use by everyone, regardless of gender, will provide safe spaces for transgender and gender-nonconforming residents, and may reduce line wait times for everyone,” according to the order.
So far, facilities like City Hall, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Municipal Court, Public Safety Headquarters, Public Safety Annex, Department of Watershed Management, WorkSource Atlanta and a few local parks and recreation centers are part of the project.