WE NEED MORE ALL-GENDER RESTROOMS AT SMC!

As of December 2021, Santa Monica College (SMC) only has a total of 4 all-gender restrooms for public use, many of which are unknown and/or not accessible to many students, faculty, and staff. All-gender restrooms provide access to safe bathrooms and changing areas for people of any gender identity and expression. They benefit all people, including transgender and gender diverse individuals, people who require the assistance of a caregiver of a different gender, and parents with children of different genders.

How SMC compares to other higher education institutions: 

• Santa Barbara Community College: 18 all-gender restrooms
• El Camino College: 29 all-gender restrooms
• UCLA: 46 all-gender restrooms
• UC Davis: at least 1 all-gender restroom in every building
• Humboldt College: 27 all-gender restrooms
• Mira Costa College: 18 all-gender restrooms 

Why do all-gender bathrooms matter?

Using the bathroom is a basic human need and right. For many cisgender and heterosexual individuals, accessing a public restroom is a mundane and uneventful experience. For LGBTQ+ people, however, bathrooms continue to be physically and psychologically unsafe due to threats of explicit bias and forms of gender policing (i.e., prolonged stares, double-takes, audible gasps, being asked to leave, etc.). It is not surprising that 60% of trans and gender diverse people avoid bathrooms due to fear of public confrontation. 

With SMC's ever-growing LGBTQIA+ identifying student population with over 300 students and alumni enrolled as club members of the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) on campus, many of these students have expressed their frustrations and experiences with the current lack of on-campus all-gender restrooms:

• "As a trans man, I have to calculate the amount of water I drink throughout the day in order to avoid having to use the bathroom on campus. Many of my doctors have raised health concerns about this." 

               - Charles Young (he/him/his), SMC Student 

• "The fact that I have to advocate so hard for all-gender restrooms at SMC feels like the school does not care about me. It's like a slap in the face and dismissal of my identity as a gender non-binary person." 

               - Saminne Germain (they/them/theirs), GSA Social Media Director 

• "As a queer person, I have learned to accept that not everyone will be comfortable with my gender expression. But as a person, I don't think my gender identity should bar me from feeling safe when using basic facilities, especially at school."

               - Samia Islam (she/her/hers), GSA Treasurer 

• “As a man who wears traditionally feminine clothing, I do not feel safe using the men’s restroom on campus when I am dressed in what makes me happy. I can’t use the women’s restroom either as I am ‘visibly male’. There needs to be a space for queer students like me if we are to keep labeling our campus as diverse.” 

               - AJ Sohrabi (he/him/his), GSA Secretary

It is long overdue that SMC takes this next step towards creating a safer and more inclusive campus where students of ALL identities can use the bathroom freely. The act of creating more all-gender restrooms is the equivalent to the institution saying that trans and gender diverse students are just as valued, loved, and important to them as cisgender students at SMC. At the end of the day, this is an equity and human rights issue and no student should ever be punished for a normal human physiological function that we all have. 

If you are by chance a part of the SMC community and also feel strongly about this cause or want to show your support as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, please sign the petition down below! In addition, please feel free to pass along the petition to other students, faculty, and staff that would also be interested in showing their support. The more signatures we can collect, the more we can ultimately present to SMC President Kathryn E. Jeffrey that this is a real issue that the SMC community is faced with and wants to change.

I truly believe that with the power of important voices and strength in numbers that we can at last make all-gender restrooms a long-awaited reality at SMC. Thank you all so much for your kind and courageous efforts -- we got this! 

Want to learn more? Check out the links below: 

• SMC Pride Center where you can learn more about all-gender bathrooms, common questions, and how you can share your experience at SMC
• California Equal Restroom Access Act (Assembly Bill No. 1732)