White House adds gender-neutral bathroom to office building

The White House has added a gender-neutral bathroom to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where many administration employees work, as part of a larger effort to be more welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

“The White House allows staff and guests to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity,” White House spokesman Jeff Tiller told The Advocate, “which is in keeping with the administration’s existing legal guidance on this issue and consistent with what is required by the executive order that took effect today for federal contractors.”

{mosads}Employees may also use the bathroom that is consistent with their gender identity, rather than the sex they were assigned at birth — already required under federal guidelines.

The addition of the all-gender bathroom was made public on the same day that President Obama’s executive order banning government contractors from discriminating against LGBT people went into effect.

On Wednesday, the Obama administration also condemned “conversion therapy,” which seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Transgender advocates have focused on the push for gender-neutral bathrooms in recent years.

Some members of state legislatures around the country have advocated for so-called bathroom bills, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms that are consistent with their assigned sex rather than their gender identity.