CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A pizza restaurant is being praised not just for its slices, but because of its bathroom policy.
It may seem like a simple gesture to most. But it was designed to take a positive stance on discrimination.
Juli Metcalf Ghazi, who owns the restaurant, was tagged in an image showing the sign which was posted to the Plaza Midwood Community Page on Facebook.
The sign notes that Pure Pizza has a unisex bathroom because "sometimes gender specific toilets put others into uncomfortable situations.”
These situations range from single fathers with daughters and single mothers with sons to parents with disabled children, members of the LGBTQ community, and “adults with aging parents who may be mentally/physically disabled.”
Ghazi told WCNC that last month a woman who came to the restaurant with her disabled son was brought to tears by the sign. The woman told her that since her son hit puberty, she doesn't feel comfortable taking him into the women's bathroom.
When it opened last summer, the all-inclusive bathrooms were partly inspired by a failed City Council vote on several LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances.
The comments on the photo praise the business for thinking to provide accommodations for everyone's comfort, and the owner says the point was not to garner attention, but to "find compassion rather than animosity."
The note reads:
We have a UniSex bathroom because sometimes gender specific toilets put others into uncomfortable situations.
And since we have a lot of our friends coming to see us, we wanted to provide a place for our friends who are:
-Single Dads with daughters
-Single Moms with sons
-Parents with disabled children
-Those in the LGBTQ community
-Adults with aging parents who may be mentally/physically disabled
Thank you for helping us to provide a safe environment for everyone.
An image of the note recently posted to Facebook has more than 1,000 shares and nearly 3,000 likes.
