Nicole Clements, a transgender student, has often felt anxiety about using the bathroom while on campus. But an event in the women’s bathroom during her sophomore year turned her off from using gendered restrooms entirely.
“I went into the women’s bathroom in the library, and as I’m coming out, this cleaning lady comes in the door,” said Clements, a junior psychology and Spanish major. “She just gives me this look, and very pointedly, points at the sign that says women on the door, like, ‘Oh my god, I can never do this again.’”
Temple has sought to be a safe space for LGBTQ students by promoting queer student activities like Lavender Graduation and National Coming Out Week. However, adequate amounts of gender-neutral bathrooms are one of Temple’s shortcomings. Across all lecture halls and student recreation buildings, there are only 55 gender-neutral restrooms for approximately 30,000 Temple students.
In current campus facilities, gender non-conforming students are barred from doing something as simple as using the bathroom comfortably. Temple should prioritize constructing more gender-neutral restrooms as one of the first steps in fostering a safer and more inclusive environment for queer students.
Temple published an ArcGIS map detailing where gender-neutral bathrooms are located across campus. While the map is a valuable resource for queer students, it showcases the scarcity of these facilities available to those who need them.
Despite the large number of students that take classes in Mazur Hall and Tuttleman Learning Center, both only have one gender-neutral restroom.
The lack of gender-neutral restrooms can make queer students feel unsafe and resort to walking home in between classes to avoid the scrutiny of gendered restrooms. They often fear judgment from other students while they search for a suitable bathroom.
“I also feel embarrassed really running around trying to find the one gender-neutral bathroom in the entire building, because it feels like, ‘Oh my god, everyone’s watching me,’” Clements said.
Debates about transgender people in public restrooms have heightened in recent years. Many Republican-leaning states have restrictive bathroom laws that forbid transgender individuals from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity, NPR reported.
Although Pennsylvania doesn’t have bathroom laws, social stigma is still strong. Sixty percent of people believe gender is determined by assigned sex at birth, according to a 2022 poll conducted by Pew Research Center. Constructing more gender-neutral restrooms is critical to making transgender students feel accepted on campus.
Rob Faunce, an associate professor in English and gender, sexuality and women’s studies, says that as one of the most popular universities in the state of Pennsylvania, it’s imperative for Temple to set a standard for queer inclusion.
“This is an institution that prides itself out of its commitment [to diversity and inclusion] and has been in the first crowd for a long time. So Temple has a chance here to continue that and to be distinguished on an issue,” Faunce said.
Though cost may be an issue, Temple has proved its devotion to improving campus facilities with the development of the new Paley Hall and the new media center for the Klein College of Communication. The addition of gender-neutral bathrooms is a necessary extension of their current development, as it establishes a safe and comfortable environment for all students.
In addition to scarcity concerns for queer students, Jules Budlow says many of the gender-neutral facilities on campus are also the only wheelchair-accessible ones.
“You can’t properly serve both demographics by just putting random single-person bathrooms in some buildings,” said Budlow, a senior sociology major. “I would prefer to use a gender-neutral bathroom, like, almost all of the time, but I also don’t want to take a bathroom away from a person who needs the physical space.”
In buildings like Mazur and Tuttleman, students wishing to use gender-neutral restrooms face a unique inconvenience. They have to choose between disrupting their education by going out of their way to use a bathroom that may be 10 floors away or waiting until a more convenient time.
“I’m not going to college so I can think about how far the closest bathroom is that I’m comfortable using, like, it should just be close to me,” Budlow said.
With transgender individuals being more frequently victimized by public and legislative scrutiny, Temple needs to prioritize setting a standard of inclusion by making gender-neutral facilities more widespread on campus.
The disruption of college education just to relieve oneself is one that cisgender students seldom deal with. If Temple wishes to continue to stand by their mission statement of inclusivity, more gender-neutral bathrooms need to be constructed. It is crucial for the safety and educational prosperity of one of Temple’s vulnerable student communities.
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