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Etsy is fighting the absurd restroom gender law with these signs

Etsy, the site for selling homemade crafts, has officially declared it disagrees with New York's mandate on gender binary restrooms.

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Earlier this week, an Etsy engineer named Sara Bee tweeted a photo of the sign posted on one of the company's restrooms at its New York City headquarters.

"While the law requires gender binary signs on the doors, we believe that gender is not binary," the orange sign reads. "Please use the restroom that feels most comfortable to you."

"Super proud of Etsy today for making our bathrooms as gender-neutral as state law allows," Bee tweeted.

The state of New York mandates that all restrooms — public and private  designate if they're for women or men. 

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Many activists are fighting for non-binary restrooms in New York, a state where 90% of transgender people have experienced harassment at their job, according to a recent survey.

Earlier this year, the New York State Assembly tried to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) for the eighth time. It's a law meant to bar discrimination in the workplace, including prejudice around a person's choice of restroom.

"Inclusive restrooms are a solution that would not just help non-binary or transgender folks," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, tells Tech Insider. "They would help everyone."

Gender-neutral restrooms would also help parents with small children and people with physical disabilities who have nurses or attendants, she says. 

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More businesses should adopt inclusive restrooms, Keisling says, because it makes workplaces more efficient.

 Any strategy that alleviates the never-ending line to the ladies' room is probably a good one.

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