When I was a seventh grader at Kennedy Middle School, there was a mysterious door in one of the science hallways. I never knew where it went. Nobody did. That changed when one day, a new sign was stamped on the door that read “gender neutral bathroom.” This was a big deal for KMS students as it was the first single-stall bathroom for student use in the school, spare for the bathroom in the nurse's office. Its arrival gave students a private place to go number two, without the worry of relieving themselves with other people in the room. From that point on, gender neutral bathrooms grew in popularity. Upon my arrival to Natick High, I was informed that NHS had not only one, but two single-stalled gender neutral bathrooms. Labeled as “student”, they can be found on the second and third floor, across from the staircase directly behind the concession stand. I was happily astonished by this effort, as I was someone who, as a young freshman, was terrified by the thought of using the regular bathroom. Even today, I prefer the single-stall bathrooms as I don’t feel comfortable in the boys bathroom. And so, for the first two years of high school, and even today, that is where I went and will continue to go. I never faced any type of issue accessing one; if the second floor one was occupied, the one on the third floor was sure to be open (or vice versa). However, all of that changed upon the opening of my junior year. 

Throughout the fall, and even into today, accessibility has been a big issue for the gender neutral bathrooms. It’s almost frivolous to check if they're open during passing time, as they are both inevitably going to be occupied. A majority of the time, those occupants tend to be in there for every reason besides using the bathroom (if you see what I'm alluding to). For the first few weeks of school I put up with it. I timed my trips to the bathroom to be at what I presumed were the least busy points of the school day. However one day, nature called and I was forced to answer. The most inconvenient aspect of this was the timing. It was 9:30. The start of mask break. Arguably the worst time to try and use the bathroom at school. 

Regardless, I headed over to the second floor student bathroom with naïve determination and hope. The doorknob read VACANT! I tried the door and— locked. I head upstairs. OCCUPIED. I do a lap around the third floor and check again. It’s the same old song. I head downstairs, do a lap and check again, crickets. At this point it’s 9:38 and I’m gonna have to be in my next class soon. The question is, will I be able to use the bathroom before then? In a student bathroom, the answer is no. Unless I were to pick the lock, break the door in, throw its occupant out, and leave that situation with anything less than expulsion. So, I made the decision to go in the regular boys bathroom. 

I am out of my element and the situation is already uncomfortable. Thankfully, there was nobody in there. I assume the position and begin to relieve myself. I’m not sure what it was that I ate that day, but it was certainly a longer trip than I anticipated. As I’m starting to wrap up, a group of boys enter the bathroom. Presumably in there to get their nicotine buzz, I’m not worried. I'll mind my own business and they can mind theirs. Yet eventually, these boys begin to make comments about the occupancy of the stall. It began as “I know you're in there!!!!” which evolved into “what are you doing in there, bud? Pooping?” which then led to one of them banging on the stall door, in an effort to scare me. Luckily, I have thick skin, and by the high pitched voice and childish banter I assume that it’s a group of sophomores. I was right. I head out, not upset but certainly annoyed. Not only am I annoyed that I had to deal with that, but further annoyed because I know the situation wouldn't've occurred if I had been able to use a single stall bathroom. 

As you can see, the problem is clear: the single stall bathrooms are over-occupied by folks who don’t need them. It’s extremely frustrating to see presumably cis people using these bathrooms when they don’t experience any type of anxiety in the normal, gendered bathrooms. These bathrooms are a safe space for Trans, Non-Binary, and Queer students at NHS, infringing on it will certainly impact their school environment and mental health. I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’ve had extensive conversations with friends who rely on the gender neutral bathroom and they are equally as fed up as I am. I’ve watched each of them express the same jaded frustration that comes from being denied a safe school environment. 

And this incident is one of many things I’ve observed about the gender neutral bathrooms, another being the fact that teachers think they are entitled to use those bathrooms. I can’t tell you how many times I've seen a teacher leave one of the student bathrooms when the adjacent staff bathroom was open. If that had been done in the reverse and I, as a student, had used the faculty bathroom as a result of no student ones being open, there would clearly have been consequences. On another occasion, a teacher UNLOCKED the bathroom that I was using, simply because I forgot to turn the lock that changed the doorknob from reading “vacant” to “occupied.” There are EONS more students at NHS sharing 2 bathrooms compared to the faculty sharing many more. 

We seriously need to expand the amount of gender neutral bathrooms at our school, increasing it to at least three and, in the best-case scenario, four. I’m not here to debate how and where they will be implemented, but I am here to share the truth about the problem. No student at Natick High should be subject to harassment in the bathroom simply because they couldn’t access the one that they normally use. 

Natick High, do better.