Federal Building

Federal building has been reported as coded slang for a public lavatory used for cruising, part of the discreet vocabulary queer communities built to talk about sexual spaces when such contact was criminalized. The term is not well documented in standard references, so treat it as niche or local rather than established. The clearly recorded equivalents are the British "cottage," which gives rise to the verb cottaging, and the Australian and New Zealand "beat," meaning a park, toilet, or other public place where men meet other men for sex. Britain also had Polari, an entire coded slang used by gay men through the mid 20th century to communicate safely in public.