EEOC: Federal Agencies Can Restrict Bathroom Access by Gender

Roughly 13 months after an executive order declared that the federal government would only recognize two sexes, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a decision holding that federal agency employers can maintain single-sex bathrooms and similar intimate spaces.

The EEOC, which adjudicates federal employment discrimination appeals, voted 2-1 on Feb. 26 to approve a federal sector appellate decision arbitrating an appeal regarding access to spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms in federal workplaces under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In a statement issued the same day, the EEOC said that Title VII “permits a federal agency employer to exclude employees, including trans-identifying employees, from opposite-sex facilities.”

As AP News reported, the EEOC “decided against a civilian IT specialist who worked for the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. The agency “repeatedly declared her to be a man, even though the worker informed her managers that she identified as a woman in the summer of 2025,” AP News’ Alexandra Olson wrote, “when she asked to use bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with her gender identity.”

That request was declined, and the worker subsequently filed a complaint with the Army. The complaint was dismissed, and the IT specialist appealed that decision to the EEOC.

The EEOC cited the aforementioned executive order in its Feb. 26 decision, with EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas saying that the opinion “is consistent with the plain meaning of ‘sex’ as understood by Congress at the time Title VII was enacted, as well as longstanding civil rights principles: that similarly situated employees must be treated equally.”

Others took issue with the decision. For example, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano cited the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that title VII protected employees against discrimination and unjust termination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The Supreme Court made clear in Bostock that transgender workers are protected from discrimination; the EEOC cannot undo those protections,” Takano said in a statement.

“Authorizing vigilante bathroom police doesn’t just endanger transgender people,” said Takano. “It puts every girl and woman at risk, especially those who don’t fit Republican extremists’ idea of what women ‘should’ look like or act.”