Transgender employees and visitors will now be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity in all federal buildings, according to a new bulletin published Thursday in the Federal Register.
The rule will now apply to the thousands of buildings and offices controlled by the General Services Administration in more than 2,000 U.S. cities. It will not, however, apply to the U.S. Capitol or national parks, which the GSA does not control.
“Federal agencies occupying space under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of GSA must allow individuals to use restroom facilities and related areas consistent with their gender identity,” the bulletin said.
“The self-identification of gender identity by any individual is sufficient to establish which restroom or other single-sex facilities should be used,” it said.
Publication of the bulletin is intended “to clarify that the nondiscrimination requirement [under federal civil rights laws] includes gender identity as a prohibited basis of discrimination,” GSA said.
No federal agency can require proof a transgender person is undergoing any medical procedure or to produce any proof of surgery, either.
Transgender rights have come to the forefront of news in America in recent months. In May, the Obama administration issued guidance mandating public schools let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, or possibly lose federal funding.
Twenty-one states have filed a lawsuit against the Education and Justice Departments, which issued the guidance.
