Before the end of the winter quarter, four members of the Social Justice Living and Learning Community (SJLLC) will attempt to convert one of two women’s bathrooms on the SJLLC floor of Johnson-McFarlane Hall (JMAC) into a gender-neutral bathroom.
The initiative was started by first-year students Cassidy Ammerman, Kirsten Wilshire, Kade Wilson and Larcy Brooks as an assigned class project with the SJLLC. The bathroom has its own rules listed outside the SJLLC hall.
“The thing about the bathroom is that it is creating a safe space on our campus,” said Wilson. “There’s an idea that people who are transgendered feel uncomfortable going into a bathroom that’s designated as male or female, and a lot of times face violence for going into a bathroom they identify with but their physical gender doesn’t match. [This] creates a safe space for anyone to go in and use the restroom because it’s a basic human need.”
A gender-neutral bathroom is a public bathroom space in which people of any gender may use freely, without facing repercussions normally associated with using single-gendered bathrooms.
Wilson said it could be possible to have such bathrooms in every residence hall on campus eventually.
She added that there is a petition the group has used to gain support for the bathroom, with a question asking if students would be comfortable using the bathroom. According to Wilshire, only one signature has gone against the initiative.
However, some JMAC residents were indifferent to the project.
“It’s an area of JMAC we don’t frequent,” said first-year student Logan Williams. “I think it’s a strange concept.”
Williams’ roommate, Danny Johnson is interested to see the restroom in action.
“I think it’s an interesting change of pace,” said first-year student Johnson. “I’m not really for or against it, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.”
Some residents of other residence halls however felt the project would be good for the university.
“I think if it goes through in JMAC, it could go through in any residence hall,” said junior Sam Korea. “I have a lot of friends who identify as transgendered and I think it’s good that it relieves them of the pressure from having to choose between two distinct groups.”
SJLLC Director Catherine Orsborn stated this is not the first time a push for a gender-neutral bathroom has been attempted at DU.
“It’s come up a few times but this is the first time students decided to take it on and make it a group project,” said Orsborn. “They’ve been working on it since the fall and I feel it’s gotten more complicated as it’s gone on because they realized how many things they have to do to actually make it happen. They see this as a way to educate JMAC and the broader DU population on gender issues, gender norms and such.”
Orsborn reinforced that carrying out the project has been entirely student-led, with no involvement from LLC staff or Housing and Residential Education (HRE).
Ammerman stated the main challenges of the project have been reaching out to people for more involvement, as well as “getting people to understand the educational purposes of our campaign.”
Eventually, the students will be required to present the project to DU’s Board of Trustees for further evaluation. Anyone who is interested in supporting the project or has questions about it can contact its members at for more information.
