Jersey City To Make Single-Stall Bathrooms Gender Neutral

JERSEY CITY, NJ — More gender-neutral bathrooms will soon come to Jersey City after a new ordinance was passed by the city council.

Last week, the Jersey City Municipal Council approved an ordinance that makes all single-stall bathrooms in the city gender-neutral, in an effort to make Jersey City even more inclusive and welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

Under the ordinance, existing businesses with single-use bathrooms have sixty days from the time the ordinance goes into effect, to change the signage on bathroom doors to reflect gender-neutral bathrooms. The ordinance was drafted to mirror Hoboken's 2018 ordinance. The ordinance also covers any new construction that has single-use bathrooms.

Ward E Councilmember James Solomon sponsored the ordinance after Wylie Tene, a 15-year resident of Jersey City, initially reached out to Solomon's office in hopes of creating this citywide legislation.

During the public comment portion of Wednesday's meeting, Tene explained how the idea for the legislation came about while visiting a single-stall restroom. "I thought to myself that seems silly because only one person can use it at a time, so why did it need to be specified in gender," Tene said.

In a celebratory tweet, Solomon posed for a photo next to a gender-neutral bathroom sign and thanked Tene and other advocates who, "Raised their voices to pass our gender neutral bathroom bill that makes Jersey City a more equitable, inclusive city."