LGBT community fights to make bathrooms accessible for members of both genders, more welcoming to transgender students

For one and for all: LGBT community fights to make bathrooms accessible for members of both genders, more welcoming to transgender students

By: Dan Thalkar
Posted: 4/30/07

Bryce Renninger wanted people to talk, to reconsider traditional gender boundaries.

So in November he helped make two single-occupancy bathrooms in Watson Hall gender-inclusive.

"The big thing is this gets some awareness, and I don't think people had really thought about it," said Renninger, residence adviser for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Learning Community.

The bathrooms are the first all-gender bathrooms at Syracuse University, and Renninger tried to raise as much awareness for them as he could. He put flyers on every bathroom in Watson and had an open discussion about the idea before any changes were made.

In an unrelated effort, the LGBT Resource Center is working with the Office of Design, Planning and Construction to draw up a priority list of buildings to put in all-gender bathrooms. These bathrooms, more than to raise awareness, aim to cater to students who may not feel comfortable in a gender-specific bathroom.

"Gender-neutral restrooms provide transgender and gender nonconforming students with a safe space to do the most basic human acts," said Amit Taneja, assistant director of the LGBT Resource Center.

Gender nonconformers, Taneja said, include "butch" women and metro sexual men.

The atmosphere and environment at SU is open to accommodate transgender students, Taneja said. Several years ago, SU included gender identity and expression to its nondiscrimination policy, which Taneja said was a move toward acceptance.

"We're heading in the right direction in terms of policy," Taneja said. "How do we truly change practice to reflect that policy?"

One step, Taneja said, is the creation of all-gender bathrooms. He said it is relatively easy and inexpensive to convert existing single-occupant bathrooms and doesn't affect anyone else, because everyone can still use the bathrooms.

Lindy Wagner, resident director at Watson Hall, said she hasn't seen a change in people using the now all-gender bathrooms.

"Honestly," Wagner said, "both male and female used both anyways. If one was full, they went to the other … I haven't seen any difference in population use."

The largest roadblock was people misunderstanding what the bathrooms actually were, Wagner said. Several students came to her office and asked whether this meant men and women would be showering in and using co-ed bathrooms now. One student even approached Wagner with her mother on the phone, asking about what sort of debauchery was taking place.

Wagner explained that the bathrooms were single occupant, and she hopes both mother and daughter told that story, creating dialog elsewhere.

"That's the biggest bonus," Wagner said. "More than use - just talking about it."

Transgender rights are an issue of discussion nationwide and will probably become more so in the future, Wagner said.

"We have a lot of students in the country who are becoming transgender and partaking in daily life," Wagner said. "It's one of those issues institutions are going to have to deal with."

The University of Chicago, Oberlin College and University of New Hampshire are among several universities which have, in the past several years, converted male/female bathrooms to all-gender use. Other universities - like Ohio State University, American University and Washington State University - have committed to including all-gender, single-occupancy bathrooms in their new buildings.

One reason SU has yet to do so, according to Steve Schroeder, assistant director of design and construction, is New York state policy. Law requires separate facilities if there are more than 10 users, and there is a set ratio of toilet fixtures depending on the number of users. All-gender bathrooms are not included in that number, and so must exist in addition to the required amount.

"We're hampered by some of the code restraints," Schroeder said. "It's awkward, that 10 person rule."

Other than that, Schroeder said the cost of making existing single-occupant bathrooms all gender is minimal. Signs and proper waste disposal for both bathrooms are all that's required, he said.

One possible area for all-gender bathrooms is Huntington Beard Crouse Hall, because it already has single-occupant bathrooms, Schroeder said. Putting one in the Schine Student Center, however, would require major renovation, since it has no single-occupant bathrooms.

Taneja said the LGBT Center has no set timetable for when it wants SU to form numerous all-gender bathrooms but said he hopes to submit the list of preferred buildings to design and construction within six months.

Renninger said he hopes SU considers the issue and makes changes.

"If the university wants to take various gender identities seriously," he said, "there should be at least one residence hall with an all-gender bathroom choice."

Some students, however, are uncomfortable with the idea.

Watson Hall resident Victor Serabian said all-gender bathrooms don't bother him, but his roommate doesn't like the idea.

"I think he felt more comfortable if the bathroom wasn't mixed," Serabian said.

Serabian also doesn't think the information campaign was very effective. He didn't know the all-gender bathrooms were only single occupant, and said he didn't hear many people discuss the issue.

Regardless, the all-gender bathrooms are about more than just transgender students, Renninger said.

"It's not always about outer identities," Renninger said. "It's about how a person deals with their own gender."

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