Politics & Government

Hoboken City Bathrooms Will Soon Be ‘Gender-Neutral’: Mayor

Hoboken's mayor plans to issue an executive order to "protect the rights and dignity of transgender, gender non-binary and queer residents."

HOBOKEN, NJ — All of Hoboken’s city-run, single-occupancy bathrooms will soon be “gender neutral,” Mayor Ravinder Bhalla announced Monday. Bhalla plans to issue an executive order on Wednesday that will take effect immediately.

"Former Mayor Zimmer took a step in the right direction last year when she announced that people could use the public restrooms that most closely matched their gender identity," said Bhalla. "This next step is meant to further protect the civil rights and dignity of our transgender, gender non-binary, and queer residents and visitors, but this is just the start. I will continue to introduce progressive and inclusive policies to protect all residents."

Bhalla said that he plans to release more details about the upcoming executive order on Wednesday. The order will take effect at the time of signing, immediately following the announcement, the mayor stated.

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Signs on all city-owned single-occupancy restrooms will be replaced to reflect this change by May 31, prior to the start of June, which is LGBT Pride Month, the mayor said.

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Find out what's happening in Hobokenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article contained a file photo of a multi-occupancy bathroom. The executive order will apply to single-occupancy bathrooms only. We apologize for any confusion.

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