City of Gainesville restores single-sex bathrooms at City Hall after challenge from Rep. Clemons

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In response to a question from Rep. Chuck Clemons about whether the City of Gainesville’s gender-neutral restrooms violated building codes, the City has removed the exterior door locks on two City Hall bathrooms and changed the signs to designate one bathroom for men and one for women.

In March, Clemons asked the Florida Building Commission for a non-binding opinion on the conversion of the restrooms, which the City said were renovated in January 2022. The renovations included adding a lock to the exterior doors of the restrooms and changing the signs to indicate that the restrooms were gender-neutral. Clemons argued that adding locks to the exterior doors effectively converted the restrooms to single-seat restrooms because any person entering the restroom could lock out other users; his petition asked for an opinion on whether this violated building codes that require a certain number of toilets in a public building. Clemons’ petition also speculated that this was “a failed attempt to stymie the implementation of CS/HB1521,” which became law in 2023.

CS/HB 1521 requires educational institutions, detention facilities, correctional institutions, juvenile correctional facilities, and public buildings with a restroom or changing facility to designate separate facilities based on biological sex or provide one-person unisex facilities.

On April 25, Derek Miller, the Director of Legislative Affairs at the Florida Department of Business Regulation, told Rep. Clemons by email that “the matter regarding the restrooms has been amicably resolved.”

City of Gainesville Public Information Officer Rossana Passiniti confirmed, “The first-floor restrooms’ signs have been changed – one with signage for men, one for women. Locks have been removed.” She declined to answer our question about whether the City plans to add gender-neutral restrooms at City Hall.

The post City of Gainesville restores single-sex bathrooms at City Hall after challenge from Rep. Clemons appeared first on Alachua Chronicle .