--- title: Stall Tactics description: In the history of public bathrooms, politics and rights have often collided canonical: https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-19T10:40:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:40:05.966Z article:section: Politics og:title: Stall Tactics og:description: In the history of public bathrooms, politics and rights have often collided og:url: https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stall Tactics twitter:description: In the history of public bathrooms, politics and rights have often collided twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Stall Tactics > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=841e0a12-d32d-47a8-9104-7bac13789ff5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 19, 2016 10:40 AM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 19, 2016 10:40 AM UTC 2ND CENTURY B.C.E. First public latrines built, in ancient Rome; the shared, open-air facilities offered little privacy 1739 The first sex-segregated public restroom on record was set up at a Parisian ball; chamber pots for each sex were provided in separate rooms 1829 Tremont House in Boston becomes the first American hotel with indoor plumbing, including water closets located on the ground floor; the Astor House hotel in New York City, built in 1836, featured toilets on each floor 1887 Massachusetts passes the first known U.S. law declaring that “wherever male and female persons are employed in the same factory or workshop, a sufficient number of separate and distinct waterclosets, earthclosets or privies shall be provided for the use of each sex and should be plainly designated” 1896 In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court rules that “separate but equal” racial segregation is legal; it led to segregated facilities from public bathrooms to parks 1930 The majority of the U.S. urban population has access to running water, a prerequisite for indoor plumbing 1952 The Regional Council of Negro Leadership encourages a boycott of service stations with “whites only” facilities; the campaign, led in part by activist Medgar Evers, promoted the slogan “Don’t buy gas where you can’t use the restroom” 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans segregation in public facilities based on race and national origin, requiring an end to whites-only bathrooms 1971 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is established; it mandates that employees have adequate restrooms, and when facilities must be “separate for each sex” 1982 The ratification period for the Equal Rights Amendment expires; Phyllis Schlafly and the Stop ERA campaign had used the specter of unisex toilets to help stoke opposition 1987 The Restroom Equity Act in Califorina requires new sports and entertainment venues to have adequate restrooms for women, a move to fix perennially long lines 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act requires steps to be taken to provide public-restroom options for people with disabilities 1993 For the first time, the U.S. Senate provides a women’s restroom located close to the Senate floor 1997 Ally McBeal’s fictional lawyers share a unisex bathroom, shocking some viewers (Calista Flockhart said at the time she wouldn’t be caught dead in a real one) 2013 Following a civil rights investigation, the Arcadia, Calif., school district agrees to grant a trans student equal access to facilities and programs 2014 Maine’s Supreme Court rules that the Orono school district cannot bar a transgender girl from using the girls’ room FEBRUARY 2016 The city of Charlotte, N.C., passes an ordinance to allow transgender people to use the restroom that matches their gender identities MARCH 2016 Under Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina’s House Bill 2 nullifies the Charlotte ordinance and prevents other localities from passing measures giving transgender people restroom access aligning with their gender APRIL 2016 The White House adds a gender-neutral bathroom MAY 2016 Attorney General Loretta Lynch announces a federal civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina over House Bill 2 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/"},"headline":"Stall Tactics","datePublished":"2016-05-19T10:40:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:40:05.966Z","description":"In the history of public bathrooms, politics and rights have often collided","url":"https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4341406/stall-tactics/","name":"Stall Tactics"}}]}] ```