Transgender bathrooms: An architectural perspective

The question of what restroom a transgender person should use has become a national debate. Kathryn Anthony, an Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Distinguished Professor of architecture at the University of Illinois, has testified before Congress on the issue of gender parity in public restrooms in federal buildings. Anthony, also the author of "Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession," talked about potty politics with News Bureau arts and humanities editor Jodi Heckel . What is your take on the current controversy over transgender persons and public restrooms? It's been fascinating to watch this issue explode on the scene in recent weeks. In fact, access to public restrooms is a civil rights issue and a human rights issue that has surfaced long before. Title II of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 dismantled Jim Crow laws that had long been in effect throughout much of the South, requiring racially segregated public restrooms in hotels, motels, restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums, concert halls and transportation cars. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 required all public accommodations, including those restrooms in both the public and the private sector, to eliminate physical barriers.