D.C. Starbucks Adopt Gender-Neutral Restrooms

Starbucks stores in Washington, D.C., began removing gender-specific designations from their restrooms this week and are aiming to have all 52 of their single-stall restrooms gender-neutral within a month.

The move is in keeping with a rarely enforced regulation in the District of Columbia, enacted to ensure equal access to public facilities, including restrooms.

Although the law has been on the books since a 2006 amendment to the D.C. Human Rights Act was approved, compliance is often the exception rather than the rule.

In the end, it took campaigning from local LGBT groups including the D.C. Trans Coalition and the D.C. Center to convince the global coffee giant to to satisfy requirements that businesses afford individuals "the right to use gender-specific restrooms and other gender-specific facilities such as dressing rooms, homeless shelters, and group homes that are consistent with their gender identity or expression."