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New restaurants, offices, schools and hospitals in England will have to have separate men’s and women’s toilets, a move ministers say will combat growing concerns about “privacy and dignity” in gender-neutral establishments.
The law will mean that new-build non-residential buildings require separate facilities and cannot only have “universal” toilets.
According to ministers, 81% agreed with the intention of separate single-sex toilets in a consultation on the proposals, while 82% also agreed with the intention to provide ‘universal’ toilets – a self-contained and fully enclosed toilet with a hand basin for individual use – where space permits.
The government said the new requirements would mean people of all genders would have access to facilities, either through a separate single-sex space or a “universal” toilet.
However, the policy has been criticized as transphobic since it was first proposed in 2021 because it did not offer an alternative plan for transgender and non-binary people.
Transgender rights activists have long argued that gender-neutral restrooms can be reassuring to some transgender men and women who fear discrimination in binary restrooms.
Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch said the move would help combat the rise of gender-neutral toilets, which she said “deny the privacy and dignity of both men and women”.
Last week, Badenoch said girls at the school who did not have access to single-sex toilets developed urinary tract infections (UTIs) because they did not want to use gender-neutral toilets.
She asked people to report public bodies that do not provide single-sex spaces or have policies that do not comply with the Equality Act. She did not name the school or further substantiate the claim.
Badenoch said the move showed the government’s commitment to “ensuring that single-sex spaces are protected for all” following plans to overhaul the NHS constitution by restricting the use of gender-neutral wards.
These changes will mean that patients in England will be able to be treated in single-sex wards and transgender people will be treated in single rooms.
In a statement on the legislation, she said: “Today’s announcement will also create better conditions for women so that our specific biological, health and sanitation needs are met.
“This follows our work last week restricting the use of mixed-sex wards in the NHS and demonstrates how this Government is committed to ensuring that single-sex spaces are protected for all.”
Government guidelines on how schools in England deal with transgender and young people require schools to maintain separate toilets and changing rooms for children over the age of eight, allow staff and pupils to ignore pronouns preferred by children in social transition and allow sports and physical education activities to be segregated by gender if there are safety concerns.
Colleges are not subject to the same legal requirements, but ministers said the same safeguarding considerations should apply.
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Housing Minister Lee Rowley said the legislation would help ensure “appropriate facilities” are available “for everyone”.
A statement said: “We know that all members of the public value safety, privacy and dignity and this new legislation will help ensure that the right facilities are available for everyone.
“It is extremely important that new buildings, especially in public spaces, serve the community [the] proper toilet.’
Mermaids, an LGBTQ+ charity, has responded to the government’s proposals for gender-sensitive toilets.
A statement on its website said: “We hear that transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people too often do not feel welcome or even safe when using toilets. It is unacceptable that any child should be made to feel this way.
“All children, including those who are transgender, non-binary and gender diverse, should have access to a toilet that makes them feel respected and affirmed.
“We want a future where every young person can choose a toilet with freedom and autonomy; for some it would be a gender-neutral toilet and for others it would be a gender-specific toilet.”
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