I expected California to be one of the first...
http://news.yahoo.com/school-switching-gender-neutral-bathrooms-students-201124192.html
This School Is Switching to Gender-Neutral Bathrooms for All Students
Out of 365 students, about six to eight kids at Miraloma Elementary don’t adhere to the traditional gender binary—and that makes potty time fraught with anxiety-inducing decisions.
In order to make using the restroom a carefree process for every student, the San Francisco school has started getting rid of gendered bathrooms, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
So far, the single-stall bathrooms for kindergartners and first graders—which are located within the classroom—are gender neutral. The school plans to phase in bathrooms used by older students over the next few years, including restrooms with multiple stalls.
California is one of just 14 states with laws barring discrimination against students based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to Human Rights Campaign. The state’s 2013 School Success and Opportunity Act grants students the right to use bathrooms and play in gender-segregated sports that match their gender identity. While many schools offer one gender-neutral bathroom for students on the gender spectrum along with traditional boys’ and girls’ rooms, Miraloma’s principal, Sam Bass, wanted to do more.
“We are the first elementary school in the district to say that’s not good enough,” Bass wrote on the school website. “All of our students should have full, equal, safe, comfortable access to facilities.”
Bathrooms have become something of a battleground for transgender rights. A federal judge ruled Friday that a transgender teen could not use the boys’ room at his Virginia high school. More than 100 students at a Missouri high school walked out in protest of a transgender girl being allowed to use the girls’ bathroom and locker room. In both schools, the students have used gender-neutral bathrooms while their peers use the boys’ and girls’ room. Both students have said such segregation unfairly singles them out.
At Miraloma, no student will feel othered when they need a bathroom break because all students use the same facilities.
“I think most people don’t think about how difficult it can be, going to the bathroom for someone like my son,” Jae, the mom of a first grader at Miraloma, told the Chronicle. (Out of concern for her son’s safety, she only gave her first name.) Choosing a bathroom is difficult for Jae’s child, who was born male and identifies as a boy, but prefers to keep his hair long and wear traditionally feminine clothing. At summer camp, he wet himself rather than face a gendered bathroom.
Such conflicts are common for kids who don’t fit the gender binary. Older students will also avoid using the bathroom for an entire school day, which can lead to urinary tract infections and chronic constipation. That’s why the U.S. Department of Labor cited restroom access as matter of “health and safety” in new guidelines for companies looking to integrate transgender employees.
The school will continue working with parents and faculty to create restrooms that make all of the students feel comfortable as they get older. But so far, the parents at Miraloma are pleased with the changes.
"There are absolutely parents with questions, more about the logistics than anything else,” Ellen Schatz, the school’s PTA president, told ABC News. “I haven’t heard a single parent say they didn’t like this or thought it was unnecessary."