Reikosimmons

Lead

A unisex public toilet, alternatively called a unisex bathroom, unisex lavatory, gender-inclusive toilet, gender-neutral public toilet,^[1] gender-neutral washroom,^[2][3] or often shortened to just unisex toilet^[4] or unisex restroom is a public toilet that people of any gender or gender identity may use. Gender-neutral bathrooms benefit transgender populations and other people who exist outside of the gender binary; people with disabilities, the elderly, and anyone else who may require the assistance of someone of another gender; and parents who may wish to accompany their children to the washroom or toilet facility.^[5][6][7]Unisex bathrooms can provide safe spaces, and as a result of the new social knowledge surrounding LGBTQ populations more unisex public toilets are being installed. All-Gender restrooms are designed to ensure that restrooms are fully accessible to all members of society. For gender-variant people and others who identify or are perceived to be outside the gender binary, A-Gender restrooms can eliminate discrimination and harassment for people who may be perceived to be in the "wrong" bathroom.^[7]

Unisex public toilets have recently become more popular in public places, such as airports, colleges and stores such as Target. The new unisex public toilets are being created in response to the recent controversy surrounding the transgender bathroom issue. Recently, North Carolina proposed legislation that would prohibit individuals from using washrooms other than the one corresponding with their biological sex. Unisex bathrooms are growing in popularity because of the recent discussions surrounding the creation of safe spaces in our world.

Developing an understanding of the transgender bathroom controversy explains the current significance of gender neutral bathrooms. Many in the transgender community feel judged because according to the perceptions of others they use the “incorrect toilet”. Colleges have taken a stance on the current controversy and many are building new facilities.

__FORCETOC__

History Of Restrooms

Making public facilities accessible to diverse populations has long been a divisive issue. Gender segregated restrooms in the United States and Europe are a vestige of the Victorian era where women's modesty and safety were considered at risk and under constant need of surveillance and discipline. While public water closets were considered necessary for sanitation reasons, they were viewed as offending public sensibilities. Because public facilities were associated with access to public spaces, extending these rights to women was viewed as "immoral" and an "abomination".^[9] While some public facilities were available to women in London by 1890, there were much fewer than those available to men.^[10][11]

When women entered the working force in the late 1800s New England decided that they should require separate toilets to protect women from the harsh culture in a man’s world. Following New England’s example almost all the other states also created separate bathrooms for women. Along with the creation of bathrooms, states created bathroom codes that with specific rules to segregate bathrooms per sex. (Time)

Legislation and the Segregation of Bathrooms

Historically in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere public toilets have been segregated by race, class, religion, and gender, and have frequently been completely inaccessible to certain people with disabilities.^[12][13]

Restrooms have historically been segregated in the United States. Following the Reconstruction era bathrooms were segregated by race until the 1960s when the Civil Rights Act was passed. Segregation was enacted through a series of laws called “Jim Crow” that originated from black codes that were used by the confederacy. Due to the creation and normalization of Jim Crow systemic discrimination was established. Although Jim Crow laws no longer exist they symbolize an era of white supremacy. During Jim Crow, public washrooms were racially segregated in part to protect the morality and sensibilities of white women.^{[14] [15]}  “Jim Crow became synonymous with discrimination and particularly racial segregation.”(Moore “Jim Crow Laws”)

Restrooms are also segregated by gender. The establishment of gender neutral restrooms is a modern controversy that has arisen because restrooms are currently gender segregated. The rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, and Questioning individuals have become at the forefront of social movements since the legalization of same sex marriage and prominent celebrities identifying themselves as transgender. Some believe the restroom one uses should align with their biological sex and others believe that the restroom one uses is a personal choice and may align with how they self-identify even if their identity is different from their sex at birth. The argument for gender segregated restrooms emphasizes that the separate men’s and women’s restroom creates a safe space and by not enforcing the gender segregation rule women’s safety would be compromised. On the side in favor of gender segregated restrooms, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick stated: “We will stand up for women and girls in America and in Texas, You deserve your privacy, you deserve your dignity, you deserve your comfort and your safety when you go to the ladies’ room.” (Time)

The Human Rights Campaign stands in opposition to Lieutenant Governor Patrick, and believes all individuals should have freedom of choice when selecting which bathroom to use. The Human Rights Campaign gives specific advice for companies and recommends that employers grant access, and use, to bathrooms according to an employee's "full time gender presentation", and provides a list of recommendations for employers on how to do so.^[21]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of the United States provides federal anti-discrimination protections on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy status, age, disability, and genetic information.^[16] However, federal anti-discrimination laws do not extend to LGBT individuals. While the U.S. Department of Education has indicated that single-sex schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity under Title IX, they have not extended such a ruling to transgender students across the board.^[17] Each state, county, and city government enacts its own legislation governing how it will or will not protect the rights of LGBT individuals; this includes provision of gender neutral bathrooms.

The United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that employers provide accessible toilets for all employees, and that employers do not impose "unreasonable restrictions" on employees who wish to use bathrooms at work. However, this federal requirement for employers applies mainly to the physically disabled, and to women employed in male-dominated workplaces. OSHA historically has not applied this law to transgender employees.^[18]

San Francisco, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington D.C., West Hollywood, and Austin have each passed measures mandating that single-occupancy bathrooms in public spaces be relabeled as gender-neutral.^[19] Meanwhile, state legislatures in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee currently have anti-transgender bills on the floor that would restrict bathroom access.^[20]

In 2016, North Carolina Governor signed the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act also known as House Bill 2 or the “Bathroom Bill”. The policy will be a statewide piece of legislation that bans individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex. The bill passed through the North Carolina House and Senate but was largely protected by democratic senators and various civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union.

California became the first state within the US to legally require all single occupancy bathrooms to be gender-neutral from March 1, 2017.^[22][23]

Leadership/Advocacy

In the United Kingdom, All-Gender restrooms are sometimes found on university campuses. In early 2013, Brighton and Hove city council introduced unisex toilets, which did not feature the words 'men/gentlemen' or 'women/ladies' (as is traditional), but instead used 'universal symbols', which was described as 'political correctness' by one newspaper in the UK.^[1]

According to Canadian Global News online newspaper, many different regions across Canada offer unisex toilets and other gender-neutral facilities, but Vancouver was the first municipality to change building codes to require unisex toilets be built in public buildings. This movement, according to commissioner Trevor Loke, aimed to make everyone feel welcomed and included: "We think that the recommendation of universal washrooms is a good idea [...] [w]e will be using more inclusive language based on the BC Human Rights Code." Some initiatives to make washrooms more diverse and inclusive have focused on language simply by using the phrases 'washroom' or 'gender-neutral washroom' in order to be inclusive of all genders and gender identities, or using specifically geared language such as 'women and trans women' as opposed to just 'women' (and vice versa for men and trans men). ^[2][3]

Design of Inclusive Restrooms

In the United States the design of a typical bathroom is being re designed in hopes of creating a safer space for all individuals. One proposal that is common in other countries is the concept of dividing the bathroom into sections: One for coifing, one for washing, and one for eliminating. Other cities around the globe like Rosario (Argentina), Rotterdam (Netherlands), and Wellington (New Zealand), are hiring designers to redesign public bathrooms. Specific to the culture of the United States the urinal is a major focus point in designing inclusive bathroom facilities. The urinal is the main element that distinguishes the men’s and women’s facilities. The objective of designing new bathrooms is to create an open yet private space that encourages all subjects to freely and safely engage with one another in the public space that is a bathroom.

The signs that label the new gender neutral bathrooms are also important because they are the main identifying symbol that signal to everyone that particular restroom may be used by anyone. In April 2014, the Vancouver Park Board decided to install All-Gender restrooms in public buildings, with different signs to identify them. Amongst the options discussed was the rainbow triangle (based on the pink triangle used during the Holocaust), an 'all-inclusive' gender symbol, an icon representing a toilet or the phrases 'washroom' or 'gender-neutral washroom' placed on the entrances to the toilets.

A typical sign used to label a gender-neutral bathroom is one that says “All Gender”. At Yale, they are using a version of this sign: “The new Yale bathrooms will read "All Gender Restroom," with the traditional man and woman figures next to a figure wearing pants on one leg and a dress on the other”. (Banchri).

College Trend

Recently, there has been a growing trend on college campuses in the United States to establish All-Gender public restrooms. Many campuses are renaming existing restrooms and toilets to be more inclusive. According to a study by the University of Massachusetts, over 150 college campuses across the US are creating gender-neutral restrooms. Safety concerns have prompted many colleges to implement non-gendered bathrooms. Safety concerns have become more prominent due to violence that can be inflicted upon transgender individuals when others deem their restroom choice to be incorrect. Activists, who are trying to get more gender-neutral restrooms on college campuses, hope that transgender and gendered individuals, can feel safe.^[25]

In a study conducted by University of California’s Williams Institute it was concluded that nearly 70 percent of transgender people said they had experienced verbal harassment in gender-segregated bathrooms, while about 10 percent reported physical assault (Banchri).

Research by the University of Massachusetts comments on the need for gender neutral restrooms and the issue of safety. It says that certain people feel threatened using facilities that do not adhere to their gender identity, and this can become an issue when students are harassed by their peers. The University states that this is more of an issue in restrooms that are designated for male use than those that are designated for female use.^[26]

According to a research article by Olga Gershenson of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, restrooms have always been an issue for one group or another. First, women around the world petitioned for the right to their own facilities; next were racial minorities in the US during the time of segregation. After this fight, people with disabilities raised the issue to get fully equipped facilities. That fight ended with changes to building codes to make washroom more accessible. Now the issue concerns transgender and other gender variant people.^[27]

The University of Oklahoma continually adds gender-neutral restrooms to their campus to accommodate students who may require use of a less excessively gendered bathroom. (Students that fit under this umbrella may identify as LGBTQIA+). As of February 2014, the university had 13 unisex bathrooms.^[28] Recently, the university has vowed to include a gender-neutral bathroom in all new buildings to be constructed.

Lead

A unisex public toilet, alternatively called a unisex bathroom, unisex lavatory, gender-inclusive toilet, gender-neutral public toilet,[1] gender-neutral washroom,[2][3] or often shortened to just unisex toilet[4] or unisex restroom is a public toilet that people of any gender or gender identity may use. Gender-neutral bathrooms benefit transgender populations and other people who exist outside of the gender binary; people with disabilities, the elderly, and anyone else who may require the assistance of someone of another gender; and parents who may wish to accompany their children to the washroom or toilet facility.[5][6][7]Unisex bathrooms can provide safe spaces, and as a result of the new social knowledge surrounding LGBTQ populations more unisex public toilets are being installed.

Unisex public toilets have recently become more popular in public places, such as airports, colleges and stores such as Target. The new unisex public toilets are being created in response to the recent controversy surrounding the transgender bathroom issue. Recently, North Carolina proposed legislation that would prohibit individuals from using washrooms other than the one corresponding with their biological sex. Unisex bathrooms are growing in popularity as a result of the recent discussions surrounding the creation of safe spaces in our world.

Developing an understanding of the transgender bathroom controversy explains the current significance of gender neutral bathrooms. Many in the transgender community feel judged because according to the perceptions of others they use the “incorrect toilet”. Colleges have taken a stance on the current controversy and many are building new facilities.

Table of Contents

1. History
   1. Invention of bathrooms (unisex)
2. Legislation- Segregation of Bathrooms
   1. Racial
      1. Jim Crow
   2. Gender
      1. N.C transgender law
3. Leadership/Advocacy
4. Signage
   1. Talk about various types of signs
   2. “New” both gender signs
5. College Trend
   1. Colleges are building inclusive facilities

Sources

27, 2016, 1. Academic OneFile (accessed November 2, 2016).

http://0-go.galegroup.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/ps/

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497&sid=ebsco&asid=66b300f7517ce84b03fe5478772dfdef.’

Scherer, Michael, Charlotte Alter, and Belinda Luscombe. "Battle of the

Bathroom." Time, May 30, 2016.

http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/eds/pdfviewer/

pdfviewer?sid=cae5579f-7611-45ab-acd7-8dbf951f426c%40sessionmgr107&vid=10&hid=119

Banchiri, Bamzi. "Yale introduces gender-neutral bathrooms: A college trend?"

The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), May 21, 2016.

http://0-search.proquest.com.ignacio.usfca.edu/docview/

1790200605?accountid=14674.

Cavanagh, Sheila L. Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic

Imagination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. Digital file.