This year, the Academy instituted their first gender-neutral restrooms. Only having the two options for restrooms, male and female, was a high priority issue, especially considering the necessity of non-discriminatory practices against transgender and nonbinary individuals in the community.  To begin with, biological sex, defined by anatomy, can be very different from where one falls on the gender identity spectrum. The binary concept of gender identity is the most conventional way of delineating gender in our culture; yet, if people do not identify with their anatomical sex, that does not mean they determine themselves to be of the opposite gender. People can describe themselves to be gender fluid or can identify with neither defined gender, which develops a much wider gender spectrum. Growing up with gender constrictions fosters an environment that not only makes it difficult for transgender or gender fluid individuals to accept themselves and feel comfortable to open up to others, but where cisgender individuals (those who identify with their biological gender) feel as though transgender individuals are abnormal and hard to understand.

The best example of our cisgender and binary oriented society lies in our male and female restrooms. Most cisgender people automatically walk into either male or female restrooms without any conscious thought. Yet, for the transgender community, our society’s typical system of binary restrooms presents an immense dilemma. “[Binary restrooms] have a pretty deep psychological impact for the [transgender] people using those restrooms because every time they [use one restroom], they accept that gender role,”  former member of the Student Diversity Leadership Club Zoe Vermette ‘15 said.

The students of SDLC brought forth the issue of Academy not having all-gender restrooms to 10/12 Division Head Sonia Roth at the end of the 2015 school year. “I started talking to the kids and realizing just how many students we were poorly served as a result of not having gender-neutral bathrooms,” Roth said. The administration then began the process of converting single-room restrooms already in use into gender-neutral restrooms. “It sends a message to the student body that we understand, value, and respect everyone on the campus, and we don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable,” Roth said. The installation of universal restrooms at our school is a step forward in a movement to accept and not discriminate against anyone regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, sex, or gender. “It’s an open box. You don’t have to choose which room to go into but rather have a space where you get to choose who you are. I don’t think it should symbolize much more than freedom,” Vermette said.