1896 The United States Supreme Court, in a decision known as
Plessy v. Ferguson, upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.”
1950s Separate toilets for white and black people throughout the American South persist thanks to racially-motivated
“Jim Crow” laws in states and local communities.
1954 In the
Brown v. Board of Education decision, the US Supreme Court rules that separating children in public schools on the basis of race is unconstitutional. This overturns the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that had provided for “separate but equal” facilities.
1960s The American civil-rights movements expands to toilets for other groups. Physically disabled people, including many in wheelchairs, fight for their right to access public facilities, including toilets. As women flood the workforce and are elected to office, they fight for restrooms in factories, offices, and in the US Congress and state capitols.
1968 The federal government passes the
Architectural Barriers Act which leads to ramps, curb cuts, and other modifications that allow people safer access to and in government buildings and toilets.
1969 California Assembly woman
March Fong Eu sledgehammers a toilet on the steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento to protest the growing practice of pay toilets. Eu noted the unfairness of women having to pay a dime ($0.10) to enter a toilet stall while men used urinals for free.
1970s The struggle for LGBT rights (the rights of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people) gains momentum. The decriminalization of homosexual behavior begins at the local level. In the same decade, new laws require architectural modifications in private buildings and restrooms. Anti-pay toilet advocacy gains momentum.
1970 The
Committee to End Pay Toilets in America (CEPTIA) forms to protest the 50,000 US toilets now fitted with coin operated locks. Thanks to this uniquely successful campaign, pay toilets are outlawed in California and then New York. Eventually, it shifts public attention from basic human rights and economic inclusion to the gender issues which propel the women’s movement of the 1970s.
1977 More than two decades after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, the case of
James v. Stockham shows that African Americans were still striving for fair restroom access.
1987 California passes the nation’s first
law requiring “potty parity” – the equitable provision of washroom facilities for women and men. The bill was introduced by State Senator Art Torres who tired of waiting for his wife to use the restroom at events. It recognizes that clothing design, male anatomy, and doorless urinals give men a speed advantage and that women’s rooms require more fixtures to serve the same number of users.
1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes federal law. It specifies accommodation required by people with many types of disability and provides additional design requirements for restrooms.
1992 First
women’s restroom adjacent to the US Senate floor opens.
2000s Americans become aware of that a minority of their fellow citizens cannot identify with their biological sex. Advocacy by transgender youth, the parents of transgender children and community supporters leads to new awareness of gender dysphoria and human rights. Many universities, colleges, and schools change policies and practice to protect the safety and privacy of all restroom users. At the same time, fear of terrorism plus escalating costs of maintenance and security results in
additional closures of public toilets in cities across the US.
2003 The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, an organization dedicated to ending poverty and gender identity discrimination, produces
Toilet Training, a documentary film and guide that uses stories of people who have been harassed, arrested or beaten for trying to use bathrooms in public places, in schools, and at work.
2007 PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human) issues its
Design Principles for Public Restrooms. These include provisions for toilet stalls that serve all users, including homeless people and those who do not conform to gender stereotypes. The group calls on the City of Portland, Oregon to ensure that public toilets are designed to remain open 24/7.
2009 Twenty states in the US now have
“potty parity” laws. Since women require more time to urinate than men, some laws specify a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio for men’s to women’s toilets.
2010 The United Nations
Resolution 64/292 explicitly recognizes the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledges that these are assumed embedded in all other human rights.
2010s The second decade of the 21st century sees transgendered people win a series of significant victories as they stand up for their human right to safe restrooms.
2011 United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, visits the United States and
reports on her Mission to the United States. to the UN General Assembly on Americans lacking access to toilets and basic hygiene. She
documents the lack of access to toilets by homeless citizens of Sacramento, California, and by Hispanic agricultural workers.
July 2011 A
restroom is created adjacent to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve the growing proportion of female members.
2014 Housing shortages and foreclosures result in increased numbers of unhoused Americans living on urban streets without toilets. At the same time,
public urinationis often considered a crime. In some local jurisdictions, it’s a livability misdemeanor that results in arrest and a fine the poorest of the poor can ill afford. In other jurisdictions, meeting this essential biological function on public land constitutes indecent exposure and is considered a sex offense with unusually negative consequences.
allegations based on a video clip without verifiable context, spark calls for boycott of a corporation
