TRANSGENDER RESTROOM

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transgender_final1

Just ask Caitlin.
Transgender issues are now in the forefront of a broad range of societal changes, including same-sex marriage, which is long overdue. This raises issues for practical matters such as public facilities usage and signing.

In response, there have been a number of new signs proposed to label restrooms appropriately and the use of new nomenclature such as “Gender Neutral”, “Gender Inclusive”, “All Gender Restroom”, etc. It is not clear yet where state authorities will come down as far as ‘official’ wayfinding symbols and terminology.

The New York State Education Department recently released guidelines on how school districts should accommodate transgender students. Schools should use the pronouns students prefer, for example, and encourage administrators to be receptive of the gender identities of the young people in their charge.

The guidance, which was developed in concert with groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Empire State Pride Agenda, is essentially the department’s reading of existing state and federal laws. And while these standards do not mark new formal regulations, advocates say they will help protect a vulnerable group.

Also included in the new policy is guidance that says students should be able to use the bathroom that correlates with their gender identity, pointing to letters issued by the United States Education and Justice Departments that say prohibiting them from doing so violates Title IX, a federal law that bans sex discrimination.

Following are some examples of proposed or current signs to communicate that a restroom is available to all genders. Ultimate Symbol has analyzed the field and come up with what we feel is the clearest (Sample 6).

Which one of the signs in this post works best in your opinion? If you have a better solution or idea, please forward it to us: pinfo(at)ultimatesymbol.com

AllGender_01  Sample 1

AllGender_02  Sample 2

AllGender_03  Sample 3

AllGender_04  Sample 4

AllGender_05 Sample 5

transgender_final2Sample6

One Response to TRANSGENDER RESTROOM

  1. While sample 6 kind of works, I would have recommended sample 2 as being the simplest and it seems to get the job done. Symbols do not have to explain every possibility in detail, the meaning simply has to be recognized. Symbol 2 indicates that an individual, expressing either or both of the genders indicated can use the facility where symbol 6 seems to indicate everyone is having a party.

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