Non binary changing rooms???

In the public sector - there won't actually be any other rooms available as even the shed out the back is being used as an office with 3 people sitting on the bin as no budget for chairs.

Am I the only cynical one that now when I read a great solution about saying it is for male / female sex any gender that some staff will come along and state they are ‘female’ when they are male because that is on their legal documents. Ie. It is a no win situation.

I am sorry OP, it is not helpful. Can your HR department provide guidance? Is the person refusing to use the loos as well or are the toilets in the changing rooms?

But if the changing rooms have been labelled by sex then that is supportive of their feelings because the non binary person then knows exactly who they are likely to encounter in the changing rooms and can prepare for it. As other posters have pointed out, if a changing room was labelled non binary the possibilities are endless as to who would be using them.

Presumably non binary people make daily choices which refer to their sex in other areas of life eg buying underwear, personal hygiene care, contraception choice, standing up to pee or sitting down to pee, etc etc. The world isn’t going to change to accommodate their indecision.

This is bonkers. This person (presumably a woman) has been using the ladies loos to get changed in but that's not good enough now. But they are still happy to use the ladies loos when they need to wee/poo/deal with their period? It makes no sense.
If it's privacy they want from others (men and women because they don't 'feel' either a man or a woman) then they've already got it in a cubicle in the ladies loos. Which they appear content to continue to use for it's usual purposes.
They must realise demanding a third loo is an ask too far for practical or financial reasons but are hoping for their own special converted broom cupboard with a non binary sign on the door.
I'm sure we'd all love our own changing room at work but those brooms need their space too.

Inclusivity is important and you understand that everyone needs to have somewhere to change that meets their needs. To support all staff, changing rooms will now be for biological males of any gender and biological females of any gender. This means that all genders are catered for, not just men and women, and also those who cannot be in a state of undress in the presence of the opposite sex.

Super positive, future proofed for any cakegender etc staff that may join and doesn't fuck over women. Harder for them to argue against as surely it's transphobic to only cater to some genders and not all?

Bonus of little cost as rooms not changing, just the signs.

If there is no way to provide another space and no other solution you'll have to pass it up so your manager can find a solution.

we Segregate changing rooms by sex - what sex is this person?

providing a separate changing room just for NB people (possibly a single person ) will be expensive so I’d get some costings done and do a cost benefit analysis which will show it’s ludicrously expensive. I’d point out that the public sector finances are in a terrible state so any expenditure like this would look very bad on the front page of the local media. I’d suggest that that being the case, the men’s changing room could be changed to NB

And if it’s a woman who just feels threatened for genderwang reasons, I’d follow the same path as if it’s a man.

Is it a man or a woman?

If it’s a woman, I’d genuinely want to know why she didn’t feel safe in female changing rooms at work. What is going on to threaten that? Are there males using them?

If it’s a man, I’d say FOTTFSOF “that’s interesting, let me look into it” and put it at number eleventy million of my to do list.

Worrying that it sounds like the public sector is employing child labour... sometimes you just want to tell people to grow the fuck up, don't you.

Sorry, not helpful...

Is there space and budget for adding a properly designed (self contained cubicle) any-sex/gender changing room? (Not 'non binary' ...obviously the existing ones already allow any gender with the appropriate sex)

If there's no space or budget then you're being asked the impossible

I'd put good money on a bet about whose feelings they are happy to upset, though!

Chuck this up to your manager. If they’re so worried about feelings they can find solutions.

Yes to having a conversation about it.

What I think it will be - though this person won't be able to say it out loud because of the cognitive dissonance - is that they know intellectually they would be unsafe in the male area because they have a female body and their internal sense of nonbinary gender doesn't change that. However they feel their mental wellbeing is threatened any time they go into the women's area because that feels like they are admitting that they are really a woman so it's a threat to their (house of cards) stability.

How about signs on both doors saying "all genders welcome (male bodies only please)" on the mens and "all genders welcome (female bodies only please)" on the women's. Then it's clear they aren't claiming womangender when they go through the door.

I’d say that you also need to be considerate to the 99.9% of other staff too.

I'm very gender critical and completely get this. They absolutely shouldn't be in the female changing rooms if male and I understand they wouldn't feel comfortable in the male changing rooms if they present as female. Isn't this what we want? Third spaces so we can reclaim single sex spaces. I would make this work.

Ah, so basically pat them but don't do anything? 'sorry if you feel' type thing?

Or offer to change the men's to 'all gender' by means of a laminated sign on the door?

I would delegate this upwards to your manager if they’re so worried about the person’s feelings

And what did your manager say? Did you point out that there are 200+ genders and you can't make changing rooms for all of them?!

You could explain that the changing rooms are segregated by sex, not gender though if it's public sector they're probably not

Yep, what’s their sex? I’d say changing rooms are defined by biological sex not gender.

Good idea.

Sending you some solidarity vibes, OP, to help you cope with the stupidity, which I’m sure enhances your working day 🙄

I’d ask what they feared in a room full of women. While doing my best to look concerned and definitely not letting my eyebrows rise.