LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — To meet statewide inclusivity and accessibility requirements, the Las Vegas City Council will soon be looking at a bill that would require any new public single-stall restroom to become gender-neutral.
Council is looking at this new bill Wednesday, but there will not be any discussion. It is just a hearing and still a few weeks off from becoming anything more concrete.
“If you travel to places outside of the United States, this is not a thing,” said AJ Holly Huth, youth and family services manager at the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada. “There are gender-neutral bathrooms all over Europe.”
The bill that is being heard Wednesday would basically bring the city in compliance with state law. And over at the LGBTQ Center, it is viewed as only the smallest of victories.
“It just seems ridiculous to me if you have two restrooms that are single-stall, side by side, they look exactly the same, the only difference is the sign you put outside of the door,” said Holly Huth.
The bill will require any single-stall restroom made available to the public inside of a building constructed on or after Oct. 1 to meet the standard.
“In your bathroom at home—we don’t have separate signs on the bathroom at home,” he said. “And we have guests that come over and we don’t make one gender use this bathroom and another gender use that bathroom.”
She says that the restroom at the Center has been successful and hopes that in the future, others follow the template they’ve provided—an open space with private stalls for all.
“I feel like if we normalize that, it does not have to be an issue unless people make it an issue,” she said.
And one of the more prominent projects that will be getting ahead of this bill is the Las Vegas police's new training center. 13 Action News was told that could open as soon as January.
