Image via mistydawnphoto/Shutterstock.com

President Obama is sending a strong message of support for the LGBT community. On April 8, the White House complex opened its first gender neutral bathroom for non-binary staff and visitors. The restroom is located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building located near the West Wing of the White House.

The recent bathroom addition comes amidst steps in the Obama administration to support inclusiveness and acceptance for the LGBT community, especially with safe and comfortable bathroom access in the workplace. For the past few years, Obama has increased urgency to addressing concerns of the American LGBT community to the forefront of the national agenda on civil rights issues.

Recently, hashtags such as #WeJustNeedtoPee have gained popularity for spreading awareness about the restrictions that binary bathrooms have on gender inclusion.

Last week, Obama’s executive order that “prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity” became federal law.

Also last week, Obama appealed for stopping conversion therapies that try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity from homosexual to heterosexual. These practices are often used on minors who legally lack the ability to make medical and mental health decisions.

A petition started earlier this year called for banning LGBTQ conversion therapy after a 17-year-old transgender teenager posted a suicide note on Tumblr and then ended her life last December.

In the official White House response to a petition, the Obama administration affirmed their denunciation of the practice, stating: “As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.”

The response justifies its stance by saying that “the overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm.”

The Obama administration also announced last year that Medicare would start covering sex-reassignment surgery.

A supporter of same-sex marriage, Obama became the first president to use the word “transgender” in the State of the Union address.

Obama also addressed the topic of gender identity and sexual orientation tolerance in his speech in Selma, Alabama, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the historic march for the civil rights movement. He stated: “We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge.”

In the past year years, the public and the White House have increased awareness about transphobia and the importance of providing safe environments and facilities for non-binary individuals.

While the number of gender-neutral bathrooms has grown recently in workplaces and colleges across the United States, the debate over the use of bathrooms by transgenders has created a recent increase in legislation.

A bill being heard in the Florida Senate, the “Bathroom Surveillance Bill”, wants to ban transgender people from using bathrooms and other sex-designated areas except for the one that matches with their birth gender.

Another bill, the “Single Sex Public Facilities” up in the Florida state House of Representatives, would criminalize knowingly entering a single-sex facility by someone of the other biological sex.

Similar transgender bathroom bills are also being debated in Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas.

Transgender advocates have criticized these bills as discriminatory and as attacks on non-binary individuals.

The White House’s new gender-neutral bathroom and Obama’s recent executive actions and speeches serve as a confrontation to current legislation attempting to force transgender people to use the restroom corresponding with their biological gender, not their gender identity.

Image via mistydawnphoto/Shutterstock.com
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