U.S. President Barack Obama has once again proven that he is keeping up with people’s expectations. He recently announced that the transgender bathroom policy extends to federal employees and federal buildings as well. This allows a person to use a bathroom or changing area as per his or her gender identity. People who are not comfortable with this new policy or have any privacy issues have the option of using a single-user bathroom or changing room.
How were the Federal Employees informed of this change?
The federal employees were made aware of this vital change initiated by Obama via a bulletin posted in The Federal Register. In it, the General Services Administration clarified on Federal Management Regulation’s nondiscrimination policy being extended to include all the federal workplaces. This includes about 9200 classified federal buildings that are present in over 2000 cities in the nation.
The Benefit of the New Policy
The biggest benefit of this new policy is that people who prefer to use the bathroom and changing facilities on the basis of their gender identity rather than their biological sex would now be able to do so without any restrictions. The guideline issued recently states that the federal agencies that have occupied space that is under the control of the GSA must make sure that the individuals are allowed to make use of bathroom facilities as well as the related areas like changing rooms in line with their gender identities.
The GSA Order
The GSA order pointed out to the guidance that was coming from the Department of Education, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Justice and the government’s inclusion of gender identity in the well-known Title IX law.
Another Solution
Those federal employees who are not comfortable with the use of bathrooms as per new gender identity policy shared by President Obama don’t have to feel disheartened. They have been given the option of making use of the single-user restrooms that ensure complete privacy for them. This option is best suited for people who are shy and wish for more privacy than other people. The guideline shared by GSA also states that the federal agencies may not restrict the transgender people to only make the use of single-occupancy restrooms like family or facilities that are open to people of all genders.
