athenaltena | Well, I'm flattered, someone thinks I know what I'm talking about

Oh yeah, I was tapped by some people from a media production class at the university who want to interview me about gender neutral bathrooms. Apparently someone from Diversity Services said that I would probably have an opinion on that issue since I put on the Transgender Day of Remembrance event last November. I agreed to do it.

Now I just have to have a position and be able to articulate it succinctly. Hmm. *research time* Just a quick Google search shows that Emerson (a college right down the street from us) and a few other campuses like the University of Vermont have enacted policies that make some bathrooms gender neutral, and I remember hearing that a (thankfully failed) anti-discrimination repeal in Gainesville Florida used scare tactics around the issue of mixed-gender bathrooms to gain enough signatures to get on the ballot. So it's definitely an issue that people are taking on.

Well, my instincts say that it's a very basic part of being alive to have to use the bathroom, so transgendered people have a lot of anxiety about it, and the fact that there are not gender neutral ones readily available add another stress to their lives. I might also bring up an LGBT event that I went to in Syracuse that had a gender neutral bathroom, and at one point while I was in a stall a guy came in and washed his hands. I didn't find it especially weird, but that guy happened to be gay, so maybe it's not the best example, but at least I can say I've been in a mixed gender bathroom and nothing bad has happened to me.

I am flattered that I got tapped as an expert for this, even though I certainly am not an expert on this particular issue! This must be what punditry feels like.

I know I have people on here who are familiar with stuff of that sort, so is there anything I should bring up or any interesting links?