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Target adds gender-neutral bathrooms to all locations

Target adds gender-neutral bathrooms to all locations

On Wednesday, Target announced that is it adding gender-neutral bathrooms to all of their locations by next year. While 1,400 of the company’s 1,800 locations already have single-occupancy stalls, according to Target spokesperson Katie Boylan, Target will spend $20 million to add single-stall or unisex restrooms to 297 locations by March of 2017.

Target’s decision comes after four months of boycotts and petitions resulting from their support of queer and transgender employees and customers in the wake of HB2, the now infamous “bathroom bill” passed in North Carolina in late March of this year. The bill stripped away protection from discrimination for many queer folks, particularly targeting transgender people and their right to use facilities that align with their gender identities. Target declared their support for the queer community in a statement on their website less than a month after the bill was passed, assuring “every team member, every guest, and every community” that they would be able to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity in Target stores.

Target’s commitment to inclusivity resulted in a rapid backlash from conservative groups, including the American Family Association, whose petition to boycott  Target currently has more than 1.4 million signatures. Target also faced a 7.2 percent drop in sales this quarter, although Target CFO Cathy Smith claims that there is a myriad of factors that contributed to the results.

Mara Keisling, executive director at the National Center for Transgender Equality, applauded Target’s decision.

“There are lots of gender nonconforming people who will be happy about this and will use those bathrooms,” she said, “and most transgender people will continue to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity as they have been doing for decades.” 

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