Gender-Neutral Spaces

Gender-neutral spaces have become an important safe haven for LGBTQ+ individuals. St. Louis County, Missouri has made an executive order to make all single use bathrooms in government buildings gender neutral. Dr. Sam Page, who signed the executive order, stated, “Employees and community members, including those who are gender fluid, gender expansive, nonbinary, transgender or cisgender, deserve to be respected without regard to gender identity or gender expression.” Students at the University of Virginia School of Law are advocating for more gender-neutral toilets on campus, claiming that the ones already installed are not very accessible. One UVA School of Law student stated, “On one hand, it’s a dignity problem. It’s an issue of them sending the wrong message to trans-students that we don’t belong and that we should hide.” The Blue Devils United, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group at Duke University, are pushing for more gender-neutral bathrooms in the student dorms.

A gender-neutral sorority at Otterbein University has become a safe place for transgender and nonbinary students. One student commented, “For a sorority, it was very surprising because I definitely had that stigma already in my head about what it already was gonna be like. And I showed up at Delta for the house tours, and I had heard that they were gender neutral, so I was more comfortable with like telling them my pronouns, and that’s something that I don’t feel comfortable doing anywhere else because it’s such a nerve-wracking thing. But knowing that they are open to it, I was a lot more comfortable coming out to everyone.” Meanwhile, multiple articles discussed the Maleny Golf Club in Queensland, Australia and their recent addition of gender-neutral golf tees.