Being a former student at Wright State, there was one thing I noticed there that I haven't really recognized before: gender-neutral restrooms. When you go out in public, you notice the casual men, women, and family restrooms, but where do people go that identify as something different?
Based on the Title IX law as stated on Ed.gov, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. As stated on Wright.edu, Wright State University allows individuals to use the restroom that corresponds to their sex, gender identity and/or gender expression based on this law, and have added the gender-neutral restroom for people that define as any other gender identity. There are many people that would use gender-neutral restrooms and feel safer.
Transgender individuals are often assumed to just be people who transition to the opposite sex, however, this is used as an umbrella term. There are many gender identities that fall under this term, such a non-binary, agender, bigender, and genderfluid. To simply put it, not everyone feels like one gender, or like the gender they were assigned with at birth, and it isn't recognized or talked about enough.
A huge reason I personally believe gender-neutral restrooms should be put in more public places is because of the people that may suffer from gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is the distress a person experiences as a result of the sex and gender they were assigned at birth. There's reports everyday of kids and adults being uncomfortable in the restroom because of the stares they get and the people they see. Some people believe, "If I look like a woman/man, I need to use that restroom .", in fear that they may run into the 'wrong person'. Mic's 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. The numbers are only getting higher.
A lot of people read things like this and say, "It's just a restroom", but that isn't necessarily the case. If a human is denied the right to use the restroom they prefer, or there simply isn't a restroom that they are comfortable to use, then their everyday life is different. Work may be stressful because you don't want your coworkers to see which restroom you're going into, especially if closeted, and everyone can use a gender-neutral restroom so this really wouldn't be questionable. This also applies to simply going grocery shopping or out with friends to a movie.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I believe we should all have the same rights, and if people feeling comfortable using the restroom is such a controversial topic, people should also take a look at themselves and see where and how this would affect them personally-because it wouldn't. A gender-neutral restroom is for all genders and is a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, and my opinions will always be something that I believe needs to be spoken about until I personally see a change. I
