First-year College students Caroline Kenny and Erin Murphy recently started a petition to install gender-neutral bathrooms in all first-year residence halls.
“At U.Va the floors are are gender specific so that is already an automatic decision transgender students have to make or box that they have to check,” Murphy said. “It would help lessen the stress for transgender students and make all students feel like they are welcome here.”
Kenny and Murphy first came up with the idea for this project when they were working on their social action project in the class Sociology of the Family this semester. First-year College students Emily Mase and Lilly DiNardo, who were involved in the project, said the project was intended to be of practical use at the University.
“Our assignment was to think about a social project that could be implemented on grounds,” Murphy said.
There are currently 20 gender-neutral bathrooms around Grounds. Kenny and Murphy said they believe such bathrooms should be installed in the first-year residence halls to ease the transition into college.
“As first-years, we have recently had to learn how to adjust to an new environment,” Kenny said. “Having a gender-neutral bathrooms would help the transition from high school to college for transgender students.”
LGTBQ Center Coordinator Scott Rheinheimer said the petition brings gender issues to the forefront of conversation on Grounds. He also said that if the University does start to implement gender-neutral bathrooms, it will need to be done right.
“It shows the administration that people care about this issue,” Rheinheimer said. “It’s not just the community that is affected that cares. U.Va is interested in that and they want to do that correctly and in a way that is sustainable. If we are going to do this we want to do it right.”
This year the administration has focused on safety on Grounds and Rheinheimer said transgender bathrooms in dorms fall within these concerns.
“U.Va has been very focused on safety lately — that is, safety for when you go to parties, to the corner, and safety when dealing with authority figures,” Rheinheimer said. “Gender-neutral bathroom situations generally can be extremely nerveracking for transgender student. There is a safety component to it for the transgender person.”
Rheinheimer said gender-neutral bathrooms also allow more privacy, since they are single rooms and make it more flexible for parents to take their kids to the bathroom.
“It allows more flexibilities within family dynamics, options for students, as well as feelings of safety for trans students,” Rheinheimer said.
The University would not be the first of Virginia schools to install the gender-neutral bathrooms. Virginia Tech plans to offer gender neutral housing next semester with gender-neutral bathrooms, while George Mason already offers gender-neutral, or “flexible” housing.
Kenny said she and Murphy have received support from many faculty members and on-Grounds organizations, but have been unable to collect the amount of signatures they had originally hoped for so far.
“We have been underwhelmed by the amount of signatures,” Murphy said. “There have been 400 views of the petition and 134 signatures.”
Rheinheimer said gender-neutral spaces do not need to be a controversial topic, and should be available to people who need them.
“This can be a very controversial topic that does not have to be controversial — this is about people being able to go to the bathroom in a safe environment,” Rheinheimer said. “When we are talking about making a change we are not trying to making people feel uncomfortable; we are trying to make everyone comfortable.”
Kenny and Murphy said they hope to raise awareness for this problem and make U.Va. a more welcoming place for transgender and gender non-conforming students.
“We want to raise awareness for the transgender population here,” Kenny said. “We know that this can turn into something more concrete than a petition.”
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