Pride Advocacy

All-Gender Restrooms

Gender Netural Restroom Sign

All-gender restrooms benefit all people, including transgender and gender diverse individuals, people who require the assistance of a caregiver of a different gender, and parents with children of different genders.

The Pride Center understands the importance of having more all-gender restrooms on our campus. We are currently collaborating with SMC leadership to construct a central multi-stall all-gender bathroom facility on SMC's main campus.

To locate current single-stall all-gender bathrooms, see the SMC Campus Map.

Locations on Campus:

Currently there are four all-gender bathrooms at SMC:

1 all-gender restroom on 3rd floor of the Student Services Center
2 all-gender restrooms on ground floor of CORE Performance Center
1 all-gender restroom in the Health Services office (in Cayton)

How can I show my support for more All-Gender restrooms?

Community, Share a Testimony: If you are a LGBTQ+ student, faculty or staff member, consider sharing a testimony about your experience navigating gender-segregated bathrooms. Your stories and experiences are important for further demonstrating to SMC leadership that our community needs and wants these physical changes to our campus. You will have the option of sharing your experience anonymously if that is most comfortable.
Allies, Share Your Perspective: If you are a LGBTQ+ ally, you can also share your perspective on why SMC needs more all-gender bathrooms! The more voices, the better!
Join the Pride Center Committee: We're always looking for ways to build our community. If you're interested in getting involved reach out to Professor Yamissette Westerband (westerband_yamissette@smc.edu)

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Why do all-gender bathrooms matter?

Although using a public bathroom is an uneventful experience for many people – particularly heterosexual and cisgender people – for many LGBTQ+ folks, using public bathrooms continue to be physically and psychological unsafe due to their disproportionate risk of experiencing overt violence (i.e., physical, sexual, and verbal assault), as well as subtle forms of gender policing (i.e., prolonged stares, double-takes, audible gasps, being asked to leave, etc.). All-gender restrooms provide safe/safer access to bathroom facilities for LGBTQ+ students and environmentally signal that they belong and are valued. All-gender bathrooms benefit all people, including transgender and gender diverse individuals, people who require the assistance of a caregiver of a different gender, and parents with children of different genders.

Are all-gender restrooms bathrooms “less safe” for women?

The short answer: no, cis women are not at risk of experience more violence in all-gender bathrooms. Although opponents of bathroom nondiscrimination laws (i.e., laws that allow trans people to use the bathroom that coincides with their gender identity) argue that all-gender bathrooms increase rates of sexual assault and voyeurism, many studies have found these concerns unwarranted. In a recent study, for example, relative to public localities that made no changes to their bathrooms, localities that created gender-inclusive public bathrooms did not see an increase in the frequency of assault, sex crimes or voyeurism. Simply stated, public fears about safety and privacy violations are empirically unfounded.

It is important to note that a sign that says “women,” does not prevent people who want to harm cis women from entering. Someone who is intent on causing harm will do so regardless of the sign outside.

Contrary to public discourse, trans people – particularly trans women of color – are most at risk for experiencing physical and sexual harassment in public bathrooms. Importantly, these crimes are disproportionately perpetrated by cis men – not trans people.

Video: Trans People Nail The Absurdity Of The Bathroom Debate | Trans 102 | Refinery29

Will there still be gender-segregated bathrooms available on campus?

What if I don’t want to use an all-gender bathroom?

Is there campus support for all-gender restrooms on campus?

Yes! The following groups, committees, programs, and faculty have endorsed creating more all-gender restrooms at SMC:

Associated Students
Academic Senate
Safe Zone Initiative
Gender Sexuality Alliance
Student Equity Center
Equity & Diversity Academic Senate Committee
Office of Equity, Pathways & Inclusion
Racial Justice Center
Dream Resource Center
Gender Equity Center
Black Collegians
Latino Center/Adelante Program
Latinx Collective
Men of Color Action Network
CalWORKs
EOPS/CARE
Guardian Scholars
Public Policy Initiative
Chairs/Academic Affairs Data Coaching Group
DPAC Facilities