by: Bria Donohue
Under the leadership of the AIANY LGBTQIA+ Alliance, AIA New York has been pursuing changes to the plumbing code to ratify the design of all-gender bathrooms and establish standards for the design and construction of all-gender bathrooms, as detailed in bill A6964 (Epstein) / S7131 (May). All-gender bathrooms are defined as a multi-fixture toilet room with separate, lockable partitions and a shared sink area that can be used by individuals of all gender identities. The design standards outlined in the legislation include:
- Lockable individual toilet stalls with a minimum door height of 84 inches and a maximum undercut of 4 inches
- No visual gaps at the sides of doors and pilasters
- Shared sink areas positioned outside of individual toilet stalls
- Allowances for separate sinks within individual stalls
- May include urinals provided they are enclosed within individual lockable stalls
- Allowed in any use group defined in the code including but not limited to commercial, institutional, educational, and public facilities
- Permitted in new construction and existing structures undergoing repair, renovation, or alteration work
The proposed changes are strictly additive to the existing plumbing code to create consistency, clear guidance, and reliability in designing safe, private all-gender bathrooms. There are efficiency benefits of the proposal, as well. The proposed all-gender bathroom model is more cost-effective than the currently allowed model under the code for all-gender bathrooms because maximum undercut and minimum door height allow for shared systems (ie, ventilation, fireproofing, lighting). It unlocks spatial savings with proposed model compared to gendered bathrooms required by code, and it reduces time, cost, and uncertainty of the DOB variance process by allowing this model of all-gender bathrooms as-of-right. The code changes would eliminate the need for design professionals to use workarounds to achieve clients’ goals and scope of work requests (ex: signage for alternating gendered bathrooms of different floors until CO is obtained by DOB).
This proposal has broad support and benefits a variety of user groups by creating a safe and dignified experience for older adults with caretakers, reducing absenteeism for LGBTQIA+ youth, and enabling operational efficiency for business owners with customers spending less time on bathroom lines creating more time to purchase concessions.
Over the past 10 years, AIA Massachusetts actively advocated for the state’s plumbing code to be amended to enable all-gender bathrooms as-of-right. To emphasize the value of this amendment, AIA Massachusetts evaluated the Massachusetts Plumbing Board’s minutes to examine the time spent by the board reviewing variances for all-gender bathrooms and found that the board spent the vast amount of time on these variances. By changing the code to allow all-gender bathrooms as-of-right, it relieved a significant amount of space on board’s docket. In August 2024, AIA Massachusetts’ diligent advocacy paid off when the Board of State Examiners of Plumbing and Gas Fitters voted unanimously to change the Uniform State Plumbing Code to remove the requirement to seek a variance for all gender bathrooms and add a new code section for multi-user all-gender bathrooms (Section 10.10 (g) & (h) of the Uniform State Plumbing Code).
Continuing this effort, the AIANY Interiors Committee and LGBTQIA+ Alliance are partnering on the event Advocating for Practical Policy: A Conversation on All-Gender Bathrooms scheduled for December 2 from 6–8pm. The discussion will focus on how AIANY approaches advocacy for design professionals, the path for pursuing legislative action to remedy a persistent design challenge, and the process for making the case. In conversation with practitioners, business owners, and advocates, the program will examine a bill to amend the plumbing code to enable the design of multi-stall, all-gender bathrooms, making it easier for design professionals to meet client’s requests for inclusive design. Register for the program here.