'Everybody poops': Proposal to require gender-neutral signs outside of single-user restrooms advances
CBS News - KOIN Portland - Jashayla Pettigrew
Posted: Feb 4, 2026 / 02:25 PM PST
Updated: Feb 4, 2026 / 02:25 PM PST
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The City of Portland will move forward with a proposal to require gender-neutral signage outside of single-user restrooms.
Under the proposal, city code would change to include a new "nondiscrimination requirement" for businesses and other places of public accommodation. The impacted buildings would need to install signage depicting that single-occupant stalls are available to all users of all genders.
"We know we're dealing with a federal administration that is engaged in an all-out assault on families who don't fit their narrow definition of what they think our country should look like and for many people in my community, in the LGBTQ+ community, there are still everyday fears around something as basic as where you use the restroom," Councilor Pirtle-Guiney said.
"Gender-neutral restrooms are not complicated," Perez said during public testimony. "They simply make sense for humans. Single-occupancy restrooms already serve one person at a time. Assigning them a gender doesn't increase safety or functionality, it only adds unnecessary barriers created by socially manufactured ideas about gender and sex. At the end of the day, everybody poops."
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