AT least one Government agency has converted one of the restrooms on its property into a gender-neutral facility.

That, according to impeccable sources, means it is open to males, females and transgender individuals.

The agency announced the development in a suddenly called meeting with staff members on Wednesday.

The move appears to have been sparked by an incident at the agency a few weeks ago, in which a group of young gay men got into a squabble in a restroom. One of the men was reportedly stabbed.

The Jamaica Observer is not sure if the agency in question is the only one to have made such a move, but there have been subtle changes to Government policy on gender issues in recent time — the Bureau of Women’s Affairs morphing into Bureau of Gender Affairs being one example. The Bureau, in tandem with the Planning Institute of Jamaica; the ministries of Youth and Culture, Education and National Security; the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, recently spearheaded a project — the Next GENDERation Initiative — which it said sought to contribute to reducing violence in Jamaica by promoting a positive dialogue around gender roles, and to raise awareness of the link between gender stereotypes and violence among youth.