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The retail giant Target intends to have gender neutral toy isles for kids in the near future. Senior Kallie Quist believes this is a step in the right direction for public marketing to the youth. "It is good to not be enforcing gender roles on young children, let them choose who they want to be," said Quist.
Photo by Joe Rice

Transgender equality has become a vocal debate in the recent months, and what seemed to be a far off issue is starting to creep closer to home. With former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner changing his name to Caitlyn Jenner and identifying as a woman, the fight for transgender equality has taken a step into the public eye. As the transgender community fights for equal rights, local schools and businesses are feeling the pinch to accept and embrace the changes of the 21st century.

Times have certainly changed in the acceptance of different rights and equities for people who previously did not have much of a voice in the general public, Kathy Thompson has witnessed these changes since their infancy. “Back in the 60s, I would never have imagined having special bathrooms made for transgender people,” said Thompson. “I had never even heard of transgender people and it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I found out about segregated bathrooms.”

After the World War 2, many people became more vocal in their fight for equal rights, groups including African Americans, homosexuals and even transgender people. Although she may not have noticed the advancements immediately, Thompson has seen what a profound change America has been going through for over 60 years.

Now that the marriage amendment has allowed gay couples to wed, transgender people are demanding the equal treatment and recognition they deserve. Although it would be very difficult for anybody to form a good argument as to why the transgender community does not deserve equality, perhaps it is not so unreasonable to see why they do not need special bathrooms.

A town in Missouri was recently divided over whether or not a transgender student, identifying as female but born as male, should be allowed to use the school’s female oriented facilities. The student wanted to use the female facilities but many female students complained about feeling uncomfortable about her being in the changing areas with them, so the school told the student she could have her own room built for her so she did not make other students uncomfortable. Not only would this prove to be an extremely costly endeavor for the school, but the student felt she was being discriminated against by not being allowed to use the facility she felt she was entitled to use.

Gender neutral bathrooms are not necessarily going to make any transgender people happy. In fact, gender neutral bathrooms may be more discriminatory than simply allowing transgender people to use the bathroom they feel they belong in.

“Obviously we are going to see a big pushback,” said history teacher Roger Stippel while referring to how traditionalist people view transgender rights. “Transgender is becoming the new battlefield for civil rights.”

If special bathrooms are built for gender neutrality, they would be no different than simply using a unisex bathroom. If someone identifies as transgender, odds are that person is going to want to use the bathroom that they identify their gender with.

Junior Bridget Smith said, “Gender neutrality is when a person does not identify as a male or female specifically.”The reasoning behind having a gender neutral bathroom would be to allow kids to not have to define themselves.  I have a friend in Minneapolis whose school does have a bathroom suited to these needs and the administration locks it every chance they get, with reasoning or without,” Smith added. Even if gender neutral bathrooms were more widely used and accepted, the situation in Minneapolis proves that the regulations on the facilities would make using one more of a hassle than it would probably be worth.

Gender neutrality does not appear to be the big issue at hand in the fight for equality. The main issue transgender rights are currently facing is recognition.

Senior Kallie Quist stated, “There is no reason for a student to face harassment because of where they identify themselves on the gender spectrum.”

It is quite possible that it is more important for people to learn tolerance and be able to recognize when somebody is not being treated correctly, than to try to isolate a specific group of individuals and make that group conform to the standards society has set for them.

Although it is not necessary to believe in the viewpoints of different people, it is necessary to be understanding and imagine what it would be like to be in their situation. Gender neutral bathrooms do not have to be built if everybody is able to make an effort to understand one another and allow people to be who they feel they should be.