Signage for all single-user bathrooms in California must indicate that it is for all genders beginning Wednesday.
The new law requires businesses and government agencies to make their existing single-user restrooms available to everyone.
Assemblyman Phil Ting, author of the bill, says the law sends a strong message that in California, bathrooms are for everybody.
"California continues to move forward to make bathrooms easy, accessible and safe for everybody," Tin says. "It's unfortunate that so many states are really starting to move backward and [are] looking at making bathrooms a political issue when they really shouldn't."
Ting says parents, the disabled, those taking care of people of the opposite sex, and transgender and gender non-conforming individuals will benefit most from the new rule.
Jo Michael, legislative manager for Equality California, says the law is the most inclusive restroom access policy in the nation.
"Having policies like this in place and having laws that protect people from discrimination is something that makes communities safer, makes everybody feel more included and be able to participate more fully in society," Michael says.
While several cities around the country have gender-neutral bathroom laws, California is the first state to enact such a measure.
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