Utrecht municipality to get gender-neutral toilets

The municipality of Utrecht is getting gender neutral toilets. A motion for this was adopted by the mayor and aldermen on Thursday, D66 faction member Annemarijke Podt announced on Twitter. According to the motion, between 1 and 5 percent of the Utrecht population are transgender people or people who do not feel comfortable with a gender. Transgender people and people who are not unambiguously male or female often have difficulties with public bathrooms, the motion reads. To avoid nasty comments, they often avoid them completely. The first building to have its bathroom signs adjusted will be City Hall. The D66 calls this a "symbolic and practical place to start with toilets for everyone". Other municipal buildings will follow later. The universities in Amsterdam and Leiden also recently made their toilets gender neutral, according to NU.nl. Utrecht will be the first municipality to do so.

Motie genderneutrale toiletten zojuist overgenomen door college: stadhuis eerst, dan andere panden gemeente #raad030 pic.twitter.com/qJRRnmRkXH

— Anne-Marijke Podt (@Annemarijke) June 30, 2016