by Emerson Unertl-Coffman ’28
December 19, 2024
The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the writer and do not reflect the views of University School of Nashville or the Peabody Press.
In the United States, a total of 14 states have some sort of law in place that bans transgender individuals from using the bathroom of their gender identity. Tennessee is among them. While, as a private school, USN is not affected by these laws, we still participates in using one of the most powerful tools we have to combat these laws: all-gender restrooms. However, the placement of these can make accessing them hard for many students.
Of all the bathrooms located in the high school, there are three, located on the first and second floors, as well as one near the Cheek Gym, that are open to students of all genders. Most high school classes take place on the third or fourth floors, with art classes being in the Tibbott Wing, which contains no all-gender restrooms at all. This can make a simple act like using the restroom unnecessarily difficult.
To find out what USN students thought about this issue, I sent out a survey to 50 randomly-selected students, and received 32 responses.
While 65% of students said they never used gender-neutral restrooms, and a further 22% said they did not use them often, 13% of students reported using them sometimes or always.
It might not seem like a lot, but expanding 35% to the whole high school means that roughly 140 students benefit from these restrooms. If USN is as invested in equality and accessibility as they say they are, we should be taking steps to ensure that using an all-gender restroom is easy.
The reasons respondents chose to use the restrooms highlights another reason we should be concerned, not just with all-gender restrooms, but with all of USN’s restrooms: cleanliness.
Several respondents listed their reasons for using the bathroom as being that the other bathroom was full, or that the all-gender restroom is cleaner and smells better.
One respondent offered a proposed location for a new restroom–one of the 8th grade boy’s restrooms. About 12% agreed that adding new restrooms should be a high priority, with a further 34% believing it should be a medium priority.
Several respondents said that they felt adding more all-gender restrooms should not be a high priority, and that there are better things we can focus on.
However, I strongly disagree. While it may seem that having one or two gender-neutral restrooms is enough, we have men’s and women’s restrooms on every floor. Imagine a scenario where wanting to use the restroom took several flights of stairs, or the Tibbot Wing had no restrooms at all.
In conclusion, if USN wants to be a diverse and inclusive community, it needs to hold up this standard by ensuring that all students feel safe and comfortable.
