Obama transgender bathroom policy to include federal buildings

U.S. President Barack Obama mandated that the widely contested transgender bathroom policy should include not just public schools but also federal buildings.

The Federal Register posted a bulletin on Thursday the General Services Administration's (GSA) clarification on the Federal Management Regulation's nondiscrimination policy that now officially extended to federal workplaces — 9,200 of which are classified as federal buildings in more than 2,000 cities all over the country.

This means federal employees can now use bathrooms and changing facilities according to their gender identification instead of their biological sex.

"Federal agencies occupying space under the jurisdiction, custody, or control of GSA must allow individuals to use restroom facilities and related areas consistent with their gender identity," read the guideline.

The GSA order pointed to the guidance that came from the Department of Justice, Department of Education, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the government's inclusion of gender identity in the Title IX law.

It also offered the use of single-user restrooms for those uncomfortable with the new policy.

"Further, Federal agencies may not restrict only transgender individuals to only use single-occupancy restrooms, such as family or accessible facilities open to all genders," it said. "However, Federal agencies may make individual-user options available to all individuals who voluntarily seek additional privacy."

Roger Severino, The Heritage Foundation's director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, agreed that the use of single-user restrooms could minimize the impending conflict and lawsuits he's sure would ensue from the GSA memo but criticized the solution as costly and perfunctorily offered.

"They would rather just say, 'If you are a woman made uncomfortable by a man in a locker room or shower, get over it,'" said Severino in a briefing with The Christian Post on Wednesday.

He also warned that the new mandate would soon be followed by another that would subject federal employees to address co-workers according to their gender identification pronoun.

This became the case in May with a fifth grade teacher at Gresham-Barlow School in Oregon named Leo Seoll, who sued co-workers for using the wrong gender pronouns. Officials did not find any wrongdoing, but the school went ahead and compensated Seoll with $60,000 for emotional damages and then later required school staff to use the correct names and pronouns.