Ifp
Kate Dubinski
Original Article: bit.ly/1GRAHnY
A London high school now has a washroom that all students — boys, girls and those who identify as neither, or somewhere in between — can use.
The all-gender washroom at Beal secondary school is also one of the first in the London-area public school board equipped with multiple stalls.
For many, a bathroom is just a bathroom.
But in high school, washrooms are often more than just a place to pee.
They’re also places to make sure you look good, change clothes, gossip with friends or lock yourself in a stall and have a good cry.
But for some students, the conventional school washroom is a symbol of exclusion and fear — a place that can identify you as different.
For Grade 10 student Alec Cook, Beal’s new loo will mean using the school washroom for the first time in a year-and-half.
“Many of us didn’t feel safe going to the washroom in school, so we just didn’t go,” said Cook, 15, who identifies as a transgendered man.
The new washroom “isn’t just for kids who are non-binary genders or trans. It’s for everyone.”
While many high schools and some elementary schools have gender-neutral washrooms, many are for use by one person at a time.
Full text of article available at link below: bit.ly/1GRAHnY
