Gender Neutral Bathrooms – Teen Observer Archive

June 25, 2019June 27, 2019

Gender neutral bathrooms part of creating inclusive spaces

Students and staff interviewed this week in Washington, D.C., shared their thoughts on gender neutral bathrooms, which have become common at American University.

Tiffany Speaks, senior director for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, said bathrooms are mainly being installed for everyone to feel welcomed.

Speaks quoted from American University’s website saying: “The university is committed to having safe and accessible campus restroom facilities.”

Violence against the transgender community mostly happens in public restrooms, according to a 2013 Williams Institute report. Derrick Clifton wrote that “roughly 70% of trans people have reported being denied entrance, assaulted or harassed while trying to use a restroom,” according to a 2013 Williams Institute report.

Mumina Ali, an incoming first year student at American University, believes the school is doing a great job by installing gender neutral bathrooms.

“This campus is about being inclusive and embracing diversity,” Ali said. “Not everyone has the same identity. So I think that’s the main reason is to create a safe space where people feel as if they’re wanted, rather than anywhere in the rest of the world, they can feel like that.”

Donna Femenella, 40, Course Reserves coordinator at American University’s Bender Library, believes that the gender neutral bathrooms create a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community.

“It’s not creating a barrier where a decision has to be made in terms of kind of what a person identifies as,” Femenella said. “So I think just being able to know that a bodily function you can just do without any barriers.”

July 13, 2016July 13, 2016

AU community will see more gender inclusive signs on restrooms

American University will increase the number of gender inclusive restrooms on campus and will up the number of signs indicating where they are located, according to a university official.

The university had previously referred to the facilities as family or unisex restrooms,in the wake of a 2006 Washington, D.C. law.

Sara Bendoraitis, 37, the Director of Programming, Outreach, and Advocacy at American University’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion said that 2006 law was the main factor prompting the change in how restrooms were labelled on campus.

“People have the right to use the bathroom that best fits their identity,” Bendoraitis said.

Under that act’s Gender Identity and Expression clause, all public facilities are lawfully required to provide adequate accommodations for individuals who would feel uncomfortable or unsafe using restrooms that are gender segregated. In addition, single-stall restrooms must have gender neutral signs.

Of gender neutral bathrooms on campus, Bendoraitis said they “are not new on campus, and they actually exist in all aspects of our daily lives.”

Although laws protecting gender neutral spaces have been on the books in the district for a decade, the issue gained widespread prominence after North Carolina legislators voted in March to strip transgender individuals of their right to use a public facility of the gender they identify as.

Laura Neumayer, a 19-year-old junior studying in the School of International Service, and Julia Baldwin, 24, studying nutrition, both agreed that American’s decision to classify several restrooms as gender neutral was not surprising.

“AU is notably liberal and progressive, and the student body is very inclusive,” said Neumayer, who worked on a laptop outside the Dav cafe. “They have always tried to be this way, so the gender neutral restrooms have been on campus for a while.”

Some voiced opposition, saying they did not see the necessity of changing the signage on campus.

Carl LeVan, 45, is an associate professor of political science. He believes the university made a courageous decision by updating its signage, but he was unclear as to why labeling restrooms as unisex was inadequate.

Bendoraitis said that although the function of the facilities themselves has not changed, new labels of gender neutral are essential in order for AU to meet the needs of those who may not be comfortable using the traditional single sex restrooms.

Dorm bathroom sign — A sign posted outside a gender-neutral bathroom at an American University dorm encourages inclusion. Photo credit Jennie Yu.

“It is not about the comfort of everybody else,” Bendoraitis said. “It’s about the comfort of that person, and making sure they have access to the facilities that they would like to use.”

June 30, 2016July 5, 2016

Younger generation more supportive of gender-neutral bathrooms

Gender-neutral restrooms are getting a lot of attention since a 2016 North Carolina law was passed. Photo by Jocie Nelson.

District residents and visitors took a short time away from walking their dogs and watching the Smithsonian Folklife Festival to voice their opinions in the debate against North Carolina’s law restricting transgender people from using the bathroom where they are most comfortable.

Julien Doe, 42, a father of one, supported gender-neutral bathroom access, however, said he wouldn’t want his daughter using those same facilities.

“Some things a 10-year-old little girl shouldn’t see,” Doe said.

Ed Leclair, 62, does not have children, but he works with them and is confident in everyone’s ability to keep themselves private in a bathroom.

In March, North Carolina passed the law stating individuals could only use the bathroom that corresponded with their biological sex at birth.

David Owens, 45, disagreed with Doe. Owens, a father of four, expressed support for gender-neutral bathrooms and said his was “not afraid” of his children using the same ones.

Teenagers were more open-minded than their parents.

Pace Bongiovanni, 15, knew little about the North Carolina law, but said the government shouldn’t regulate bathrooms.

“I don’t think they should prevent it,” Bongiovanni said.

Juliet Smith, 18, was angry about the North Carolina law.

“People are ignorant and don’t treat people as they should,” Smith said.