California governor approves gender-neutral restrooms

California students can already do so under a law Brown signed in 2013. He also approved adding gender identity to the state’s antidiscrimination laws in 2011.

Supporters of the new legislation said 19 states considered restricting access to restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities based on the user’s biological sex, including North Carolina, which passed a law requiring people to use restrooms based on their gender at birth.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider reviewing whether a transgender Virginia high school senior should be permitted to use the boys restroom.

Supporters say gender-neutral restrooms also would help parents with children of a different gender and adults caring for aging parents. It would not affect restrooms that have multiple stalls.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a non-profit conservative organization, pointed to potential conflicts arising from gender-neutral facilities.

“What woman wants a man poking his head in the restroom door that somehow didn’t shut or lock? How many women want to use a urine-stained toilet seat?” he wrote in urging Brown to veto the bill.

He fears that what he called a “radical state takeover of the private sector’s restroom policies” could affect religious schools and home businesses.

Opponents said in December that they had failed to collect enough signatures to advance a proposed ballot measure that would have asked voters to require transgender people to use the public restrooms that correspond with their biological sex.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

California governor approves gender-neutral restrooms

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