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The government is issuing a consultation to prevent the supply of gender neutral toilets (and, it's implied, potentially prevent trans people using gendered toilets). I strongly recommend responding to this piece to reject the consultation. Thread of points and resources:
Articles and reports with evidence for the violence transgender people face: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-england-wales-lgbt-rise-anti-gay-transgender-attacks-a9156291.html, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48756370, https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/lgbt_in_britain_-_trans_report_final.pdf
US report on the same issues: https://www.hrc.org/resources/a-national-epidemic-fatal-anti-transgender-violence-in-america-in-2018
Report on the health problems caused by barring transgender people from public bathrooms: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/gendered-restrooms-minority-stress/
The piece claims “men can […] use both cubicles and urinals” but that “women can only use the former” (many men cannot use urinals, such as those with urostomies, & many trans men can't) yet also claims that one “should not seek to avoid the use of gender-specific language...
...unnecessarily as this causes public confusion.” The claim is that toilets cannot be labelled as “urinals”, as this will confuse the public, but should instead be named “male toilets” as code for “including urinals”, despite the fact that not all men can use urinals. Nonsense.
It also implies cis women have “particular health and sanitary needs” including menstruation and other reasons to “need to use the toilet more often”. Some women don't menstruate, some men do, & there are nonbinary people in both categories. Trans people experience particular...
...health problems, including dehydration, UTIs, and kidney-related problems (see Williams Institute study above) as a result of not being able to access bathrooms. The government is apparently unaware that transgender people have kidneys.
As a trans person with ulcerative colitis, using public bathrooms is already an absolute nightmare and directly & regularly affects my ability to work and live. Please consider responding to and criticising this consultation.
