The Obama administration will announce federal facilities must allow transgender people to access restrooms that consistent with their gender identity.
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A new regulation will be posted in the General Service Administration’s Federal Register (the daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of the federal government) this week, mandating that all transgender employees of over 9,200 federal facilities across the country can officially use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, not their gender assigned at birth.
According to the notice, the upcoming regulation will not only apply to the roughly 9,200 buildings operated by the General Services Administration (GSA) and 1 million federal civilians employees working in these space- including United States courthouses, post offices, Social Security buildings and prisons – but, crucially, to anyone entering these facilities, be they visitors or random members of the public.
“This includes all kinds of Americans”, GSA spokesperson Ashley Nash-Hahn told Buzzfeed’s Dominic Holden.
This new guideline is the latest in a series of symbolic steps taken by the federal government since the spring to spotlight transgender issues, and strengthen civil right protections for transgender people. Further, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has made clear transgender employees facing discrimination have a legal cause of action if they are blocked from restrooms that match their gender.
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Transgender people do not need to complete any medical procedure to qualify to use the restroom that aligns with their gender, nor can they be required to show proof of surgery, the bulletin states. Those who want to police which bathroom transgender folks use want the sex discrimination clause to be strictly interpreted and argue that the law doesn’t explicitly say “gender identity” or “transgender”, so it can’t apply to those cases. She added however, that it does provide “more evidence that the Obama administration is serious about enforcing the law”.
