By Ekhlas Abdullahi
Business Manager
An initiative to install ìtrans-inclusiveî bathrooms is underway at RCTC.
These trans-inclusive bathrooms will have signs that signify that this bathroom is safe and accessible for use. Not only that, they will also include disability access symbols.
ìThe purpose of these bathrooms is to be explicitly inclusive,î said Lori Halverson-Wente, instructor of Communication Studies and adviser of RCTCís LGBTQ+ Alliance. ìEven small things like symbols of support help preserve the longevity of our students. When students see these signs, they see a little of themselves.î
In 2018, researchers at Clark University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst surveyed more than 500 transgender and gender-nonconforming undergraduates and graduate students. They ranked gender-neutral bathrooms as first in importance in a list of 17 services. However, 45 percent of those respondents said that their institutions had the correct facilities.
According to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention among LGBT+ youth, this is important because ìLGBT youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth. LGBT youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.î
These are scary statistics, but they are the blunt truth.
So how does RCTCís inclusive bathrooms help? Students who have been marginalized and disregarded often seek support and community through the smallest things, according to the Trevor Project, whether it be a gender inclusive bathroom or a pride pin. These all help reduce the chances of suicide among LGBTQ+ youth.