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D.C. launches ‘all gender’ bathroom pilot program
Reeves Building gets private facilities
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The D.C. government on March 16 opened its first two “all gender” bathrooms in the Reeves Center municipal building as part of a pilot program to assess the usefulness of such bathrooms in city government buildings.
According to Sheila Alexander-Reid, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, her office along with the D.C. Department of General Services, and the D.C. Office of Human Rights plan to arrange for additional all gender bathrooms in other city buildings. The Department of General Services manages and maintains D.C. government buildings.
“This is a step toward making sure that all transgender and gender nonconforming people have access to a restroom of their choice,” Alexander-Reid said.
She said the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, which is located in the Reeves Center at 14th and U Street, N.W., informed her office that some transgender and gender nonconforming people who visit the D.C. Center were uncomfortable using the existing bathrooms at the Reeves Center.
“It is our hope that every D.C. government building with six or more public restrooms will go ahead and designate at least one restroom an all-gender restroom,” said D.C. Center Executive Director David Mariner in a statement on the Center’s website.
The D.C. Center’s first floor suite of offices doesn’t have its own restroom and its employees and visitors must use the public restrooms in the Reeves Center building.
Monica Palacio, director of the Office of Human Rights, has said that under the D.C. Human Rights Act, transgender people are free to use the public restroom of their choice. But Alexander-Reid said many gender nonconforming people still feel uncomfortable using a “men’s” or “women’s” restroom and prefer an all gender facility or a gender neutral, single occupancy restroom.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
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