Gender-neutral facilities stir campus
debate by
Kathryn Masterson for the
Chicago Tribune
(October 21, 2007) -- This fall, the single-stall bathrooms on
American University's campus are getting a name change. In the next month and a
half, signs that once designated the toilet for men or women will be replaced
with the more general term "restroom."
The change is more than cosmetic. It's part of a movement on university campuses
that recognizes that not everyone fits neatly under the labels of male and
female, and that some students or staff may feel uncomfortable using a men's or
women's restroom. To accommodate them, an increasing number of colleges and
universities are designating bathrooms as gender-neutral.
Some students who seek gender-neutral bathrooms -- typically single bathrooms
that lock rather than multistall facilities -- are transgendered men or women
and could face questions or harassment from others in the bathroom who believe
they don't belong there, said Brittney Hoffman, campus director for the Gender
Public Advocacy Coalition's GenderYOUTH program. There are also students who,
because of the way they look or dress, may get hostile comments in the women's
or men's bathrooms and choose to avoid them.
"It can be such an anxiety-ridden decision to make a choice that most people
make without thinking," said Hoffman, who helps students advocate for
gender-neutral bathrooms. "The arrival of a gender-neutral bathroom, for a lot
of students, can be a huge difference in their daily lives."
There have been pockets of backlash on some campuses to such bathrooms, mostly
by conservative groups that oppose gay and transgender rights.
More schools switching
According to a GenderPAC survey conducted in 2007, 141 schools have established
gender-neutral restrooms. Illinois schools that have such facilities include the
University of Chicago, which has had them since at least 2004, Knox College and
the University of Illinois, according to GenderPAC.
American University has an agreement to include gender-neutral bathrooms in new
buildings, said Sara Bendoraitis, director of the university's Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Center. In older buildings, single-stall
bathrooms designated male or female are being switched to unisex this fall.
Bendoraitis says universities need to be conscious of how they serve transgender
or gender-variant students.
"Every year we get more and more students already knowing they are transgender
or questioning their gender identities," she said.
At least 17 schools, including Ohio State University and the University of
Vermont, have pledged to include gender-neutral bathrooms in new buildings, said
Stephanie Gordon, director of educational programs for NASPA, an association of
student affairs administrators.
At the University of Vermont, which just opened a new student center,
gender-neutral bathrooms aren't considered a big deal, said Annie Stevens,
assistant vice president for student and campus life.
While it was the university's transgendered community that requested the
non-gendered bathrooms, others, including people who want more privacy,
appreciate them too, she said.
People who have benefited from the addition of single-stall bathrooms also
include disabled students, families with small children and people who have a
caregiver of the opposite sex, said Brett-Genny Janiczek Beemyn, director of the
Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts. Beemyn is also a board
member of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute in New York, which tracks
campus activism around transgender-inclusive policies.
Some people have opposed construction or designation of such bathrooms.
"There is a nationwide campaign on college campuses to build gender-neutral
bathrooms, and in that campaign, gender-neutral is simply code word for
transgender," said Bryan Fischer, executive director of the conservative group
Idaho Values Alliance.
Some far from neutral
Fischer's group put pressure on Boise State University this year after an
administrator there said a new bathroom could be used by transgender students.
The university issued a statement saying the bathroom was unisex and intended
for the needs of disabled people.
"To label these 'transgender bathrooms' essentially puts the state on record as
normalizing transgenderism, and we think that is a mistake," Fischer said.
At the University of Georgia, Lambda Alliance, the school's student lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender group, was criticized when members put up
gender-neutral bathroom signs on two single-stall facilities near their office.
Now, students at Georgia are finding all the single-stall bathrooms on campus
and putting together a map to post online.
Student Moira Gillis, who says she sometimes is mistaken for a man because of
her short hair and boyish clothes, is happy to help with the effort. She said
she often receives hostile stares or comments in women's restrooms and she
prefers a gender-neutral facility.
"I'd get on a bus to go to a gender-neutral bathroom if I could," Gillis said.
"I really do feel like they're a huge help."
Web guide to going gender-neutral
People looking for gender-neutral or single-stall bathrooms can search online
through a Web site created by bathroom activists in San Francisco.
At http://www.safe2pee.org , users can search for "gender free" bathroom
locations by city and to add locations to the list. Safe2pee has listings for
almost 1,000 bathrooms, including ones in museums and coffee shops and on
university campuses, in 296 cities.
Users also can get locations sent to their cell phones, which can be useful
while traveling, said Bailey Stevens, one of the site's founders.
The Web site went online in January and has grown mostly through word of mouth,
Stevens said. The site gets about 5,000 hits on a quiet month and up to five
times that number after a mention in the news media.
