Gender-Neutral Bathrooms at MHS

Written by Andie Ettenberg

June 5, 2022

Schools are where many kids and teens spend most of their time, and so naturally they can be pretty tense. Teenagers are discovering new things about themselves and their gender, and with that, it is the responsibility of high schools like MHS to help them feel supported while doing so.

The usage and implementation of gender-neutral bathrooms in schools is an integral stepping stone to making trans students feel more accepted and comfortable. As time goes on, more and more children and teens are able to express their true selves and come to terms with their gender identities, which is why it is so important to make sure they feel accepted no matter where they may be. At MHS, there have been two gender neutral bathrooms in the Learning Commons since its establishment in 2016. Melrose High prides itself in being inclusive and accepting, and there are many elements to the school that most definitely exhibit that. However, in the case of the gender-neutral bathrooms, there is still a lot of work to be done. 

I had the pleasure of meeting with our school’s Gender-Sexuality alliance, or GSA, club and speaking to them about the bathrooms. Ink Wilson, the club’s leader, said that they thought the administration was doing a pretty good job. “I think they [administration] know that we’re [trans students] here, and they care…there could always be improvements and it’ll never be perfect, so no major complaints from me at the very least.” A couple of the members of the GSA spoke up about how in general, the cisgender students and staff at least try to be accepting, even if they don’t completely understand what it means to be transgender. 

I also spoke to the GSA about the gender neutral bathrooms, and the general reaction to even the mention of them was pretty negative. According to them, there is almost always pee on the floor or walls (sometimes worse) and a huge waiting line, on top of the smell of vape. The LC restrooms didn’t have vape detectors prior to the 2022 April break, and students would take advantage of that. “People are very aggressive about the LC bathrooms,” said Elm Moock, a freshman. “One time, I was in the bathroom for literally, like, a minute, and this senior, he was, like, banging on the door as hard as he could, basically breaking it down, and yelling ‘hurry up, hurry up!’” 

Almost every member of the GSA that I spoke to said that they usually either exclusively used the nurse’s office bathroom or avoided using the bathroom at school all together. While students not using the bathroom at school is not an unknown revelation, it becomes a larger issue when transgender students are avoiding using the bathrooms because of the state they are in. Cisgender students are not treating them as they would treat a mens’ or womens’ bathroom, and it needs to be addressed so that it doesn’t continue. Kids tend to take advantage of the privacy of the single-stalls, and use that opportunity to pee on the floor or walls of the restrooms.  The janitorial staff and anyone who uses the LC bathrooms are suffering because of the actions of other students. 

In addition to the sanitary conditions, the line outside the bathrooms is always extremely long due to overuse. It is again the privacy that attracts students, and often the line renders the bathroom unusable. It brings up a hard question, should the gender-neutral bathrooms at MHS be trans-exclusive?

While on one hand, it may seem hard to create a trans-exclusive bathroom, Molly, a member of the GSA, suggested “...a system where people who feel uncomfortable using the bathrooms…maybe not just trans people.. can go to guidance and be put on a list.” At other schools in the U.S, some bathrooms have keys that are only given out to trans students. The LC bathrooms used to be locked, with only select teachers having keys, and the sanitary situation got worse when they were unlocked. A viable solution seems to be locking them again, and giving out keys to trans students or anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable using the main bathrooms. Even if a member of the LC staff had ownership over the keys, it could control the flow of students going in and out of the bathrooms and ideally solve a large number of the sanitary problems. 

The biggest point of attention was the fact that locking the gender neutral bathrooms would hardly take away from cis student’s ability to use the bathroom at school. There are 2 bathrooms on each floor for boys and girls respectively, and the gender-neutral bathrooms are already open to all. If anything, experimenting with locking the gender-neutral bathrooms, even for a short amount of time, could be a good step in the right direction. 

Focusing on the comfort of students who may not be comfortable at home or outside of school is paramount in making Melrose High School a safe place for anyone who needs it to be. Listening to the voices of those who the issues affect is just as important as working to solve them.