Baltimore Arts Museum names new gender-neutral restrooms after John Waters

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) dedicated its new all-gender restrooms to renowned filmmaker and Baltimore native John Waters on Wednesday.

The museum’s John Waters Restrooms will open to the public on Dec. 12. They are intended as a token of gratitude to 75-year-old Waters, who is a BMA trustee and willed the museum 375 pieces of art upon his death. The pieces include works from Andy Warhol, Diane Arbus, Roy Lichtenstein, Cy Twombly and Cindy Sherman as well as from Waters personally, according to The Baltimore Sun.

“Public restrooms make all people nervous,” the filmmaker and artist said, per the Sun. “They’re unpredictable. They sometimes attract perverts. And they’re fueled by accidents, just like my favorite contemporary art.”

Welcome to the new John Waters Restrooms.  Last night, we dedicated our new gender-neutral restrooms for artist, Baltimore icon, and #ArtBMA Trustee, #JohnWaters. pic.twitter.com/xfrZ6EW3U5

— Baltimore Museum of Art (@artbma) October 28, 2021

The gender-neutral restrooms are housed on the museum’s first floor and have features like full-length, floor-to-ceiling doors, the Sun reported. 

“It’s full privacy,” Waters said. “You don’t even know who’s in there. That’s what I call progress.”

The Sun added that a room in the museum’s European galleries was also dubbed “The John Waters Rotunda.”

Gender-related issues have also garnered attention in government this week as the State Department announced on Wednesday the first U.S. passport with an “X” gender marker had been issued. This move followed the department’s June announcement that it would change certain gender requirements and policies in an effort to be more inclusive of the LGBT community.