Family washroom signs in Edmonton are getting a makeover aimed at making them more welcoming to members of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgender community.
City councillors voted unanimously this week to offer LGBQT-inclusive bathrooms at all municipally-run facilities, meaning the signs on family bathrooms will soon be replaced with placards that read "all gender." Future city construction projects will also be built with all-gender bathrooms, councillors said.
"It makes it more inclusive for everyone so really, why wouldn't we do it?" Coun. Andrew Knack told CTV Edmonton.
Transgender woman Marni Panas welcomed the city's move to establish all-gender bathrooms, after she pushed at city council to see it happen. She said LGBQT people often experience abuse or harassment when they use public male- or female-only washrooms.
"We think about this every single time we use the washroom," she told CTV Edmonton. "Is this going to be a safe experience for us?"
Coun. Scott McKeen said the all-gender bathrooms will offer that safe experience. "This is about sending a message, I think, to the LGBQT community that they're welcome in Edmonton," he said.
Edmonton mother Shelley Holmstrom said she's completely behind the initiative. "Everybody is somebody," she said. "This is a good thing."
The all-gender bathrooms will not affect male-only or female-only facilities at any city-owned buildings in Edmonton.
Edmonton's LGBQT-friendly decision comes one week after "Occupotty" protesters left toilet seats on the steps of Parliament Hill to protest the so-called "Bathroom Bill," which would prohibit transgender people from using single-sex washrooms and change rooms in federal buildings.
The "Bathroom Bill" is an amendment to private member's Bill C-279, that would add gender identity to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.
With files from CTV Edmonton
