EDITOR,

I recently read your article on gender-neutral bathrooms and thought I would chime in on the issue. It seems to me that the Whitman community often looks at these situations from the wrong end. Instead of completely renovating the bathrooms, spending large amounts of money and putting others into uncomfortable situations (more on that in a second), why don’t we strengthen gender-variant awareness? We are supposed to advocate acceptance of people who may live different lifestyles from our own, so why not make them feel welcome to use any bathroom? Money isn’t going to solve the issue, and we certainly don’t have the means to back it up if it did. So let’s use our candor and brainpower over our wallets to ensure they do not feel   uncomfortable when choosing a bathroom they   associate with most closely. Give them the right to choose as they please. There has been several laws enacted in a few states recently that allow transgendered people to choose from either bathroom, free from any legal implications. This is MUCH more cost-effective for the short term, and it allows people brought up in sex-segregated bathrooms to adjust to the idea.

Now, back to what I was saying before. I know the article has the best intention of making gender variants feel at home, but we also have to acknowledge the discomfort of many others should there be gender-neutral bathroom (provided there is more than one stall) instituted throughout Whitman campus. People aren’t used to doing their business with the opposite sex in public bathrooms. Many people feel uncomfortable in the presence of ANYONE, even their own sex. Do you really want to impede on another groups comfort zone for another’s? There has to be another way, something akin to what I mentioned above.

My experience with close friends who lived in Douglas was something along the lines of straight men and women often avoided each other when the other was using the facilities (shower/toilet, toilet/toilet). Should this happen (and while you may not act this way, I guarantee you some people do), this would make people uncomfortable to use the facility. The reform would prove useless in these situations because people may end up waiting for the other to leave (not to mention awkward post-business hand washing conversations if they stayed) and that would further the waste of multiple stall bathrooms. Plus ladies, while you may gain a friend or two to have “girl”-chat in the bathroom, it wouldn’t have much of a point anymore!

I guess my point is we have rarely ever been successful bringing change to this country by forcing legislation/new mandates down people’s throats; this is simply not the best way to make people “get along” and be “comfortable”. History has proved that we are a society best changed over time, privy to wide turn-angles instead of acute ones. So while we must maintain gender variants’s comfort factor as a priority, I implore we entertain different, more cost-effective, and plausible solutions for the near future.

– Reese Ishmael ’09