MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Visitors and staff at Minneapolis public buildings will have the choice of using "all gender" restrooms that correspond with their gender identities. The addition, which will cost about $17,000, came at the encouragement of Minneapolis City Councilwoman Elizabeth Glidden, who heads the city's new Transgender Equality Council.

Men's and women's restrooms will continue to exist and won't be replaced by the 62 all-gender facilities, which will be located in 44 city facilities, including department offices, police and fire stations, public works facilities and parking garages. The all-gender restrooms aren't just for transgender individuals, but for anyone who is uncomfortable using men's and women's restrooms for other reasons, parents or caregivers of children of a different gender, and people with caregivers or personal attendants who are of different genders, the city said in a news release. The $17,000 will cover new locks, signage and security upgrades. A second phase of the project will make locker rooms and showers inclusive. Also, the city said, as new buildings are constructed and others are remodeled, officials will explore accommodating multi-stall, all-gender restrooms and changing rooms.

The issue of transgender bathrooms first came up in Minneapolis in 2014, when the Minneapolis Transgender Issues Work Group said a law forcing businesses to label restrooms as male or female was antiquated. The Minneapolis City Council changed its ordinances, allowing businesses to have gender-neutral restrooms. Two years later, the work group recommended gender-neutral restrooms in the city. "It's important to the LGBT community because there are many members of the community who identify as transgender or gender nonconforming in some way," Phil Duran, legal director for the LGBT advocacy group OutFront Minnesota and a member of the city's work group, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Many of them have experienced problems trying to access bathrooms that are strictly defined in terms of gender."

He said transgender community members can use the all-gender facilities "without fear or harassment." The issue of all-gender restrooms has been controversial across the country, with a spate of so-called "bathroom bills." North Carolina is the only state in the country to pass, then repeal a bathroom bill requiring people to use the restroom corresponding with the gender on their birth certificates. Similar legislation has been proposed in 16 other states, including Minnesota. Others are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.



During his first weeks in office, President Trump reversed Obama-era guidelines for public schools regarding transgender students' rights, explaining that the issue will be left up to the states.

The issue has been a flashpoint in Minnesota, where several families sued the Iron Range school district in over policies they said resulted in inappropriate behavior, including grinding, twerking and dancing, by a student who used the girl's locker room at Virginia High School. The lawsuit was dismissed in April, WBNG reported. Minneapolis-based Target was threatened with boycotts by angry customers after unveiling a transgender-friendly bathroom policy last year.