More gender-inclusive washrooms needed, say SFU students

Theron Meyer has come to expect double-takes andnasty comments every time she uses a public washroom.

The 20-year-old Simon Fraser University student, who identifiesherself as trans feminine, goes out of her way to avoid multi-stallwashrooms even tolerating hours of discomfort to avoid the subtlebut powerful harassment levelled against her.

"They're always very deliberate. They look at me, they exit thewashroom and then look at me again to make sure what my gender is,"she said.

"That's very ostracizing. I think a lot of people don'texperience that, and don't understand the degree to which that isharmful to my livelihood and to other trans people's livelihood."

Meyer was among the students who staged a protest Wednesday todemand more gender-inclusive washrooms at SFU.

The issue extends far beyond the university in Burnaby, B.C., astransgender students across Canada fight to feel safe using publicfacilities.

As part of their protest, transgender students occupied a men'swashroom at SFU, placing a sign on the door that read, "All genderswelcome," and "This toilet has been liberated from the genderbinary."

There are about 50 single-stall washrooms on the university'smain campus in Burnaby. But protesters say they wantgender-inclusive signs added to them and a number of multi-stallmen's and women's restrooms to be made gender-neutral.

"I think that bathrooms shouldn't be places of identity and Ithink that using the washroom is everybody's right," said protestorganizer Nathan Lyndsay, 24, who identifies himself as transmasculine.

"Trans students and gender-non-variant folks carry a lot ofanxiety about accessing washrooms because of a real fear of violenceand rape."

Universities making changes

Associate vice-president of student services Tim Rahilly saidthat since 2003, whenever the university does renovations on awashroom, it considers the feasibility of making it gender-neutral.

Rahilly said there are gender-neutral washrooms on studentresidences but agreed that the university needs more gender-inclusive facilities on campus. He added that administratorswould meet with protesters to hear their concerns.

"The university is very much on board with trying to do our bestto meet the needs of students, including this very important groupof students."

Across Canada, school boards and other public institutions havestruggled with how to make transgender students feel safe.

McGill University introduced a policy in 2007 requiring everynewly constructed building on campus to have a gender-neutralwashroom, preferably on every floor. It has also committed to addinggender-neutral signs to single-stall washrooms wherever possible.

The University of British Columbia publishes a brochure of itssingle-stall washrooms, identifying which have gender-inclusivesigns, while the University of Toronto is working on creating a comprehensive list of all single-user washrooms across severalcampuses.

Carleton University has about 25 gender-neutral washrooms, andthe University of Alberta says it has more than 50 such facilities,although it is still working on signage.

The Vancouver School Board recently updated its policy to allowtransgender students to use their washroom of choice, similar torules that have been in place at the Toronto District School Boardsince 2012.

In Vancouver, the policy was the subject of contentious debateamong critics who claimed it would scare away international studentsand affect neighbourhood property values.