Nashville may alter restroom codes to allow more unisex

NASHVILLE — City leaders might alter building codes so businesses would no longer be required to have one bathroom specifically designated for men and another for women.

Newly filed Metro Council legislation would broaden exceptions for unisex restrooms, which are allowed now in Nashville only under certain circumstances based on the size of the establishment. The bill, sponsored by Councilman Brett Withers, would authorize unisex restrooms at most businesses with two or more restrooms that each consist of single toilets and have locks.

“This is just for some of these businesses that want to make their restroom facilities available to anyone,” Withers said. “It would officially allow that to happen.

“Some business owners have expressed a concern that they want to be accommodating to patrons as well as staff who might be transgender or have a different gender expression,” he said. “It’s also just a practical matter that if you have two restrooms and people are waiting in line, they could use whichever one is available.”

Withers said he filed the bill after Metro codes inspectors warned Melanie and John Cochran, owners of Wild Cow vegetarian restaurant in his district, that they could not have unisex restrooms at a new restaurant the couple is planning nearby called Graze.

The plan for Graze is two, single-stall unisex restroom facilities. Codes officials objected after spotting signs for the unisex facilities.

“Why should somebody have to wait for a restroom if the other isn’t occupied?” said Riley Phayer, a manager at Wild Cow. “It just seems silly. If it’s a single stall, you should be able to go to either.

“And obviously, we support transgender people as well,” she said. “We don’t think any kind of discrimination should ever happen when it comes to using a restroom.”

The legislation heads to the council, which governs all of Davidson County, for a first of three votes Tuesday.

Its introduction comes weeks after the Tennessee General Assembly debated a bill that sought to require transgender students to use public school restrooms that correspond to their sex at birth. The lawmaker who sponsored the bill pulled it last month so she could study the issue further and has said she intends to roll it over until next year.

In response to similar legislation signed into law in North Carolina, President Barack Obama's administration now is planning a sweeping national directive for schools to allow students to use restrooms that match their gender identity.

Though it’s nonpartisan, Nashville’s Metro Council leans to the left politically, especially in contrast to the Republican-controlled Tennessee legislature. Earlier this year, the council approved a resolution asking the state legislature to oppose bills that are hostile to gay marriage.

Withers, one of two openly gay members of the council, stressed that his proposal would not force business owners to eliminate gender-specific restrooms but rather give them that option.

“This is meant to be voluntary,” Withers said. “I think that’s a really important thing to emphasize. It’s not mandated.”

Though unisex bathrooms in restaurants and other businesses may seem commonplace here, they are allowed in only certain circumstances.

Separate male and female bathrooms aren’t required in restaurants or pools that are less than 1,000 gross square feet, business or education facilities that are less than 1,500 gross square feet, mercantile establishments less than 2,000 gross square feet or factories less than 3,000 square feet.

An exception: gas stations, which must have separate restroom facilities. This stipulation would remain even if the council passes Withers’ legislation.

Follow Joey Garrison on Twitter: @joeygarrison

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