Mayor Ed Murray announced a plan Thursday to combat issues of safety and equity facing LGBTQ people in light of recent hate crimes on Capitol Hill.
The sweeping plan includes mandating that all single restrooms in city buildings be gender neutral, training for Seattle police and funding for a project that would aid social service agencies helping LGBTQ homeless youth.
The recent crimes in Capitol Hill also have spurred other actions, including Seattle police’s Safe Place program and the rainbow crosswalks in the neighborhood. The mayor’s office reported that in the first seven months of 2015, there were 41 anti-LGBTQ hate-based crimes or incidents reported to Seattle police — a 46 percent increase from the 28 such crimes reported in the first seven months of 2014.