Allegheny County Health Department Adoption of All Gender Restroom enabling plumbing code.
2018-2026
For a narrative account of this journey please see Potty Problems.
Beginning in 2018, I organized at the campus, city, county, and state levels to change the plumbing code affecting Pittsburgh's ability to create single and multi-stall all gender restrooms. This advocacy also led to the establishment of a university-level All Gender Restroom Committee at Carnegie Mellon, whose work has dramatically expanded restroom access across campus and established a design standard for all new construction ensuring robust all gender restroom access in future buildings.
Due to this advocacy, the plumbing code changes were adopted on January 1, 2026, benefiting all Allegheny County residents and not just the CMU campus. The work included organizing meetings with elected officials, attending and testifying at relevant council and advisory council meetings, creating and disseminating informational documents (example here), and organizing public engagement events such as postcard-writing campaigns.