CREDIT: CANDIS BROSS
Washrooms like these are the closest Fanshawe currently gets to offering gender neutral bathrooms. Megan Jordan from Facilities said Fanshawe is heading in the direction to offer true gender-neutral washrooms.

The possibility of full universal washrooms may be available at Fanshawe in the near future.

Fanshawe already offers some washroom alternatives to its students. There are currently a small number of gender-neutral or family washrooms available on campus.. Each washroom is mainly a wheelchair washroom, which is not the same as having genuine washrooms like what are already available exclusively for men and women.

The next step is whether or not there will be full gender-neutral washrooms available.

Megan Jordan, the facilities information systems coordinator at Fanshawe said the possibility of universal washrooms at the college is something that the department has already been working on.

“We’ve talked about moving in the direction of [gender-neutral bathrooms]. I’m working on our current unisex/gender-neutral bathrooms that we have now,” Jordan said.

Gender-neutral washrooms, also known as universal washrooms, are not assigned a gender and are therefore accessible to anyone.

Gender identity can be a confusing subject for many people. It can make something that seems so simple to many, like which bathroom to choose, a difficult, stressful and sometimes dangerous decision. By providing universal washrooms for its students, Fanshawe would take away this struggle for some of its students who are dealing with gender identity issues or who do not assign themselves a gender.

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), “Access to washrooms is a basic physical need at the core of human dignity for everyone,” and to deny someone access to one is a violation of their rights.

A recent voyeurism controversy coming out of the University of Toronto added fuel to the debate about gender-neutral washrooms when two women reported seeing a cellphone reach over the shower dividers to film them, according to the Huffington Post. The university is re-evaluating their policies on gender-neutral washrooms.

The topic of universal washrooms is a controversial issue around the country. Canada Family Action, an organization that seeks to have Christian principles applied to Canadian law, opposes the use of gender- neutral washrooms along with Bill C-279, dubbed the “Bathroom Bill”. The organization claims that they want to “protect women and children, defend our country’s morals and prevent gender confusion.”

Bill C-279 was amended in early 2015 to exclude protections for the transgender community in public spaces including bathrooms and locker rooms. This would mean that some people may be forced to use the washroom of their assigned gender at birth, something that can be extremely dangerous if they appear to be of a different gender identity.

Supporters of universal washrooms state that the amendment to the bill is a violation of their rights. But regardless of any decisions made by the higher courts in Canada, Fanshawe is making some progress to provide a safe environment for its students and staff. Jordan said Fanshawe is just trying to keep up with the times by making sure the campus is accessible for everyone.

“It’s the way the worlds going,” Jordan said. “We have to be available for anybody and make everybody comfortable.”