New government owned restrooms in Traverse City may soon be accessible to all, regardless of a person’s gender. Traverse City Mayor Jim Carruthers and City Commissioners this week unanimously adopted a resolution to create more gender-neutral bathrooms in city buildings.
“We’re just trying to say, let’s just make it easy and safe and welcoming to everybody who comes to Traverse City,” Mayor Carruthers said. “No matter who you are, or how you identify, we want to make sure that you’re comfortable and have a place to go to the bathroom.”
Mayor Carruthers said the new resolution would not eliminate men’s and women’s bathrooms, it would create new bathrooms that would be non-gender specific, and only for single use. “So we are not going to take the old fashioned or the old style bathroom that has the whole row of toilets, and the whole roll of sinks and then just all of sudden let the men go in the women, or women to go in the men, that’s not the point,” he said. “We just want to make it safe for people to go wherever they feel comfortable.”
While a number of people voiced their disapproval at a public forum, the resolution is a victory for the Grand Traverse LGBT community. Coincidentally, the vote came just 6 days before the Gay Pride parade in Traverse City on Sunday.
