Gender-Neutral Bathrooms and Facilities

Many articles mentioned public spaces installing gender-neutral bathrooms and facilities. An article about LGBTQ+ individuals in sports at Cambridge discussed the importance of gender-neutral changing rooms for nonbinary individuals. One nonbinary person claimed they had to “change in the disabled loo which is so unbelievably backwards it should be an embarrassment to the club.” The Sports Center at Cambridge stated, “there are four single-occupancy changing rooms within the Sports Centre three of which have shower facilities. Following recent discussions, we are planning to improve signage and awareness of these as gender-neutral facilities.”

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa has installed new gender-neutral bathrooms in order to promote accessibility. The Soweto Theatre in South Africa plans to install gender-neutral bathrooms. The Myer Horowitz Theater at the University of Alberta is also installing gender-neutral restrooms. One of the building planners commented, “To have that be the first impression within [Students Union Building], that we are a place of inclusivity and gender neutrality I think is a great step forward for our organization.” 

A report by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation listed State College in Pennsylvania as one of the most inclusive areas when looking at LGBTQ+ community protections. The college earned a perfect score on the foundation’s Municipality Equality Index, one of the reasons being their increase of gender-neutral restrooms. Meanwhile, Westminster College recently posted a map of all of their on campus gender-neutral bathrooms in order to promote inclusivity.