This year’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, will offer attendees a “gender-neutral prayer room” with Islamic prayer rugs and will reportedly also include “gender-segregated” restrooms for women. According to a map provided by the DNC at the United Center in Chicago, there is a “gender-segregated restroom” on each of the four levels of the arena, which serves as the home of the Chicago Bulls. However, another map shows that these are generally women’s restrooms.
Additional bathrooms around the arena are arranged in the usual layout as men’s and women’s restrooms.
There is also a “gender-neutral prayer room” on the entrance level of the United Center, as well as prayer rooms reserved exclusively for men and women. The Christian Post reports.
As Washington Times correspondent Susan Ferrechio reported, a women’s restroom in the nearby press archives at the Advocate Center was also converted into a men-only facility.
The DNC bathroom issue comes as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Governor Tim Walz, is facing fierce backlash for signing a 2023 education bill in Minnesota that may require free tampons in boys’ bathrooms in public schools.
A video posted to X shows a gender-neutral, curtained prayer room with Islamic prayer rugs and a table with Clorox cleaning wipes, but no Christian or Jewish iconography is visible.
The DNC arena is equipped with a “gender-neutral prayer room.” pic.twitter.com/oA9F18VLSE
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) 20 August 2024
This is not the first time that there has been an all-gender restroom at the DNC. In 2016, the convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, featured a women’s restroom that was temporarily converted to an all-gender restroom for the event.
At the time, a woman named Nikki Nice told the Guardian that she and her friend were sharing a bathroom with Jesse Jackson, who came out of a toilet stall as they entered.
“We were like, ‘Ahhh,'” Nice said. “Just seeing Reverend Jesse Jackson come out of a stall – that says everything about what an all-gender restroom really means. So I’ll take that anytime.”
Meanwhile, a woman complained to The Cut about urine on toilet seats after men used them.
This year’s Democratic National Convention also faced backlash after it was revealed that a Planned Parenthood van was offering free vasectomies and chemical abortions.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch/Staff
