A culture war battle has raged recently in the United States over restrooms, centered on the issue of who has the right to utilize what facilities in publicly-accessible buildings according to their gender identity. In more conservative-leaning states and local jurisdictions, the trend has been to codify such restrictions into law, mandating that people use restrooms aligning with their “biological” sex/gender.
These political debates and policy decisions have been a reaction to the increasing visibility of the transgender and non-binary population and their demands to be treated with equality and dignity. The Republican Party, at both state and national levels, has gone so far as to adopt planks in their official policy platforms aimed squarely at restricting the rights of this community. Some states, such as North Carolina, have actually enacted such policies.
In more progressive areas, there has been pushback to this reactionary trend. Blue states and localities are expanding the infrastructure of gender-neutral/gender-inclusive accommodations; Prominent among these states is Oregon.
Oregon has no laws restricting the use of public restrooms on the basis of gender. While the tradition of having “men’s” and “women’s” restrooms largely continues, there are more and more gender-neutral, or “all gender,”facilities popping up in public buildings. The University of Oregon proactively follows this practice.
“For our campus facilities, the goal is to provide places where all people can have privacy and personal space,” Angela Seydel, the director of issues management for university communications, said. She said that there is a map of “all-gender restrooms” which “gets updated every year, just before fall term.” The university is in the process of completing this annual update, and Seydel expects it to be ready by the end of September.
The Dean of Students’ webpage contains guidance on how to advocate for “all-gender or single-stall restrooms.” The DoS statement reads: “The costs of creating an all-gender restroom are paid for by the department housed within each building … currently, no university fund exists to pay for updating facilities for all-gender restrooms.” Restrooms can also be designed to be single-occupancy and therefore readily designated as gender-neutral. According to the Dean of Students, adding all-gender restroom signs is the cheapest option, followed by renovating a multi-user gendered restroom to multi-user all-gender. The most expensive option is adding new restroom facilities to an existing building.
A.C., a third-year English major who requested to just use their initials for this story, identifies as genderfluid. “When I can, I will absolutely take advantage of the school’s gender-neutral bathroom facilities instead of awkwardly wandering into a gendered public restroom,” they said. “If I have time, I’ll purposefully seek out a building with gender-neutral restrooms, but sometimes I’ll have to make do with the gendered ones.”
All-gender locker rooms and changing rooms are rarer. In the Student Rec Center, according to Seydel, there are currently “six all-gender bathrooms/changing rooms,” three of which have showers. There are just the two customary gendered locker rooms, though. The residence halls are more varied and inconsistent, and students must seek out specific information depending on where they reside. However, more all-gender and LGBTQIA+ dorms are becoming available, with inclusive restrooms and shower facilities.
A.C. has had some uncomfortable experiences. They said the gendered shower facilities in the dorm where they lived were not private enough. Also, when renting a locker in the Student Rec Center, they were asked which locker room they intended on using. While not stating which one they chose, A.C. elaborated that “it was always a little awkward changing in there” and that they “tried to time it so I could be there when there weren’t a lot of people.”
Cassia Williams, an incoming first-year journalism major who identifies as non-binary, was “pleasantly surprised that the dorms for IntroDUCKtion had gender neutral restrooms,” at least on the floor they were on. Williams will be living in the New Residence Hall with two cisgender women.
“To be honest, I don’t really pay attention that much anymore ‘cause a bathroom is just a bathroom and I try not to let it bother me when there’s no gender-neutral option,” Williams said. As a general matter, they use “whatever’s nearest to me, and if that happens to be a general-neutral bathroom then that’s awesome.”
Having been assigned female at birth, though, Williams often defaults to utilizing a women’s restroom, “because I feel safer there and the men’s restroom grosses me out.”
There are over 100 all-gender restrooms across campus at the University of Oregon, and several of them are located in Tykeson Hall. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
