Tomorrow, the NYS Senate Committee on Housing, Construction, and Community Development will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 7131A. If passed, this bill will enshrine “all-gender” bathrooms not only into law, but also into design and construction requirements for buildings. The “justification” for the bill states in part:

New York State and New York City’s outdated plumbing codes fail to accommodate modern design standards for multi-stall all-gender bathrooms. The market has spoken and the demand for inclusive design is here, and the plumbing code needs to be updated to meet the moment.

What our lawmakers keep ignoring is that this moment has already passed. By their own definition of “gender,” all restrooms are already “all-gender” restrooms. Anyone is welcome to use the restroom corresponding to their sex independently of their gender identity.

Single-sex facilities, however, were a necessary societal improvement that allowed women the freedom to participate in life outside the home. History will show yet again that women self-exclude from education, careers, and other opportunities when they lack access to safe, single-sex intimate facilities. Little girls are already dehydrating themselves and holding in their urine in response to regressive bathroom bills that allow boys into their spaces.

This bill does not destroy single-sex spaces like our misguided Equal Rights Amendment does, but rather shows a continued ignorance on the part of lawmakers as to why bathrooms are separated by sex, and what framing bathrooms as a “gender” issue means for women and girls.

It beggars belief that this bill is advancing. No one wants this. No one needs this. We have FAR better things to do.

The hearing, which will be livestreamed, will start at 12 noon on February 3, 2026 in Room 511, Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY. The link to watch it will appear on this page.

Contact your State Senators to tell them you oppose this bill.

Senate

1. Look up your NY state senator here.
2. Check if they’re a sponsor.

Sponsor: Rachel May (District 48)

3. Click the ‘Message Senator’ button on the nysenate.gov site. We’ve gotten you started with some sample text, but fill in the square brackets and add whatever you want!

Dear Senator [NAME], 
I am writing as your constituent [and a feminist, lesbian, lifelong liberal, etc.] to state my strong opposition to S7131A.
Women already fought for single-sex intimate spaces so they could participate in public life. Designing bathrooms around "gender" accommodation represents a misunderstanding of why bathrooms are separated by sex in the first place, and does not honor the repeated assertion that sex and gender are two separate concepts.
From a pragmatic perspective, we have already observed that female humans, independent of their "gender identity," feel uncomfortable in mixed-sex facilities, which is what "all-gender" restrooms are. Furthermore, we know that if women are given their own space separate from men, those men who claim a female "gender identity" will demand access to the women's space rather than using the "all-gender" facility. What is being codified here is a second male restroom, and it does not even guarantee that women will have a single safe intimate space of their own.
These expensive building redesigns will not fulfill their stated purpose of "including" people who have been excluded. They will only further advance the fiction that removing protections from women is somehow virtuous or progressive.
As a concerned member of the public, it is my duty to inform you that the "demand for inclusive design" has already passed, and your constituents have moved on to demanding you acknowledge the material reality of sex. For the sake of all of us, please, vote NO on S7131A.
[YOUR NAME]

4. Create an account at nysenate.gov or log into an existing account to click the ‘nay’ button on the bill page.