By Nikki Ellis

The number of gender-neutral and multi-stall bathrooms has grown in just the past few years, at work places, city facilities and on college campuses.

There are more than 150 schools across the United States that have gender-neutral bathrooms, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s LGBTQ organization, The Stonewall Center. Suffolk University is now one of those schools.

An all-gender bathroom is, as its name suggests, a bathroom facility that any gender can use. This obviously contrasts the conventional gender-specific bathrooms that separate men and women. The inside of these bathrooms include stalls with toilets as well as urinals and vanity areas.

President of Suffolk’s Rainbow Alliance, Amy Kerr, sat down with The Suffolk Journal to discuss the need for gender-neutral bathrooms at Suffolk and what they mean to our community. Kerr said, “they offer a way to be inclusive to all.” The bathrooms are also wheelchair accessible.

Kerr shared a personal story, explaining why she holds this issue so dear to her heart. Her brother, who is transsexual, struggled when he had to do something so seemingly simple as finding a bathroom: a daily decision that many don’t think twice about. One day, when her brother came to visit the Suffolk campus, Kerr painstakingly had to express to him that there was no “safe space” here. Her brother would receive weird looks and was even kicked out of a bathroom once, for choosing the bathroom that he identified with. Violence, intimidation, harassment and even arrest can all happen to transgender, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming individuals when they are in the “wrong” bathroom.

Genderqueer is a commonly used term for those who do not identify with social norms that represent either male or female. Gender nonconforming individuals are similar in that their behaviors may not match gender norms of male or female, or aren’t in accordance with their assigned sex. Transgender is when the state of one’s gender does not match one’s biological sex.

Establishing bathrooms like the two gender-neutral, multi-gender bathrooms located on the fourth floor of the Donahue building, is an important step in the right direction for a forward thinking community.

In addition to the multi-gender bathrooms in Donahue, Kerr also mentioned that several bathrooms in the Sawyer building and residence halls that contain single stalls have been made neutral, in order to offer more safe spaces for all genders. There is a full list of the gender-neutral facilities listed under the “Campus Life” tab of the Suffolk University website. Confusion can accompany change, and this change is no different. Kerr explained that as anticipated, there has been a lot of confusion and questions surrounding the new bathrooms, but said that there has been no outwardly negative feedback, to her knowledge.

These bathrooms are the newest of many steps taken by Suffolk University to create an affirming community for our transgender, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming students, faculty, and staff.