Gender-neutral bathroom remodels are a hot topic right now, especially during an election year and the surge in conversation about the transgender community. As a result, businesses are taking notice and some are seeking a unisex bathroom contractor. As a high-profile example, Target recently spoke out about supporting its transgender customers when using the bathrooms in any of their stores, releasing a statement that they encourage customers to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
Business owners are listening to the conversations about this hot topic and making bathroom improvements to accommodate all genders. Specifically, in the bar and restaurant industry businesses have been undergoing bathroom improvements for gender-neutral bathrooms and unisex public toilets. For some, nothing changed. Men and women have been sharing bathrooms with a one-stall unisex public toilet for decades. For others, the bathroom improvement project is more extensive. Some businesses simply install four separated stalls with unisex public toilets and a common area, whether it’s the hallway or a common room just outside of the bathroom, for washing hands. Another bathroom improvement idea for gender-neutral bathrooms is a communal urinal section of the bathroom and private stalls with sinks on the other side of the room.
In some parts of the country business owners are removing their signs that formerly designated separate bathrooms for men and women so the bathroom improvement is simply a signage solution. Some businesses are going as far as to hang signs that read “Gender Neutral Toilet,” “Gender Neutral Bathroom,” “All Gender Bathroom” or “Men/Women.”
Since New York state’s Uniform Plumbing Code states there needs to be a specific amount of single-sex men and women bathrooms in public buildings, adding a gender-neutral bathroom would mean the plumbing code would need to be revised.
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