Gender Neutral Final

Gender Neutral Bathrooms Subjecting others to labels, whether accurate or not, is a criminal practice that happens daily. The practice of putting something as complex as a human being into a neat, little box is a gross understatement of human worth. In the article “No more Women’s Rooms: Why bathrooms should be gender neutral”, by Izzy Rode, it was established that most transgender people do not feel accepted in whichever bathroom they go into due to a perceived misconception on what it means to be male or female. Establishing gender neutral bathrooms at Santa Monica College should be allowed to be made not just for the equality of us all but also to teach tolerance to people. Many students may be coming out of their shell and truly embracing who they are if they are able to do so in a safe environment. LGBT people face enough ridicule for their lifestyle, so why do we bother to make it worse? Many of us know this, yet choose to ignore that this never even happens. A few people may feel uncomfortable sharing bathrooms with the opposite sex, but that is because we matured knowing that there are only two choices, male and female. As an individual, we should all be welcomes in all places, especially something that is fundamentally necessary like any restroom. Despite many prejudices in society, we are all equal and we should spread diversity. We bury those who “aren’t like us” so deep that they don’t even feel comfortable to behave how they naturally want. We label people who don’t acknowledge what we are giving them, and it’s time to move forward as a society and spread the practice of tolerance. In the article, “The Wesleyan activist us the term de-segregating…” which is eliminating laws, customs, or practices under different groups rather than “… neutralizing,” which is to make something ineffective. Many believe that campus bathrooms should no longer be labeled by gender for the comfort of all students. LGBT people’s lives are no more and no less human than we are, so why can’t they have a Safe Place as well. We need to embrace ourselves and feel comfortable with who we are. Some say you are born transgender and gay, and some disagree. But why should that irrelevant factor give us the right to suppress the lifestyle someone else picks? Most transgender people already face enough resentment and ridicule for their lifestyle. Statistics prove that suicide rates for homosexuals are higher than they have ever been. Is it that difficult to switch to gender neutral bathrooms for the sake of saving innocent lives? We would not only provide equality for students, but we would severe separation issues among genders. We could prevent bullying or put it at a low, and we can finally say that everyone is privileged the same. Instead of having only a male and female bathroom, we would alleviate the “us and them” situations. SMC needs change. In the article “UC to make some campus bathrooms gender-neutral”, by Larry Gordon, sates that we as a society are already beginning to make small but life changing advances by allowing students to include a preferred name to be used, and would aid students who may want to use a different gender from their birth. Also, they allow “gender neutral” dormitory’s that allow students of the opposite sex to share rooms. We are all equal and race, gender, ethnicity, and religion should never change where you stand in the world. Everyone is capable of doing things others can do. Most anti bathroom neutralization people would say it’s about the discomfort of having the opposite sex present. We grew up learning that if you don’t have the right body parts equivalent to a certain bathroom than you are forbidden to go into it. In the article, people argue that women have a history of being sexually assaulted or raped and the presence of a man will give them discomfort. If we think about this, we are just idolizing women and saying that all men are perverts. Women can be perverts too. There will always be a chance that someone will peak at you no matter what gender. Some women can even have a higher testosterone level making them hormonal like men. That does not mean that we should fear all women but we should always be alert when in a restroom even if it’s not gender neutral. If we grew up knowing there is only one bathroom, this situation would not be a big deal. We can still make gender neutral bathrooms a safe place at Santa Monica College, we just need to give it a chance. We must trust ourselves and others and be accepting for a little bit of change. I am here on behalf of the Santa Monica Board of Trustee’s and I believe that we should switch to gender neutral bathrooms. We need to rise and move forward together and make sure that everyone feels as if they finally belong somewhere. We all go to the bathroom to take care of our own business and we should all feel comfortable doing that. This opportunity gives everyone a place to go when they need to, and teaches us all that everyone is equal even if they appear different. As a school I hope to leap forward and embrace one another.