Illinois is considering legislation that would make multiple-occupancy public restrooms in the state available to all genders. | No Revisions/Unsplash
Illinois is considering legislation that would make multiple-occupancy public restrooms in the state available to all genders. | No Revisions/Unsplash
Illinois state Rep. Adam Niemerg recently opposed House Bill 1286, an amendment to the Equitable Restroom Act, on Facebook.
The legislation would identify any multiple-occupancy restroom as an "all-gender" restroom, something Niemberg is against.
"Legislation (HB 1286) has been filed to create all-gender multiple-occupancy restrooms in Illinois to allow any gender to be in the same restroom at the same time," he wrote in the post Feb. 22. "Please take a moment to register your opposition to this bad proposal by filing a witness slip right away."
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Katie Stuart in January, and it requires that "any multiple-occupancy restroom may be identified as an all-gender, multiple-occupancy restroom and designated for use by any person of any gender.”
The bill would also require all-gender multiple-occupancy restrooms to have specified signage, stall dividers, and partitions for urinals.
According to a WQAD report, Stuart's bill is similar to one that passed the Illinois House in 2021 but died in the Senate.
In 2019, the General Assembly passed the Equitable Restrooms Act which "identified all single-occupancy restrooms in public places as gender-neutral and designated them for use by no more than one person at a time, or for family or assisted-use.”
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