SAN FRANCISCO—An elementary school in San Francisco has become the first school in the city to implement gender-neutral bathrooms.
Miraloma Elementary School removed the typical triangle and circle labels on the bathroom doors and substituted in signs reading “Inclusive Bathroom,” accompanied with a male/female/transgender logo.
Kindergarten and first-grade students at the school will now be able to use bathrooms without having to identify themselves simply as a boy or girl.
School Principal Sam Bass told the SF Chronicle that the change is meant to accommodate at least 8 first graders who do not identify with either traditional sex.
The school is also expected to do the same for older students over the course of the next few years.
On Twitter, reaction to the change was mixed. One user who supports the gender-neutral bathrooms wrote,”San Francisco school doing right for kids, some of whom are #transgender.”
Another user argued against their implementation tweeting, “Call me old-fashioned, but having gender neutral bathrooms is something I don’t want.”
Though Miraloma would be the SF Unified School District’s first school to make such a change, schools in the nearby Berkeley Unified School District already offer at least one gender-neutral bathroom. According to current California law, students in grade school are legally allowed to use whatever bathroom facilities they feel comfortable with.
Across the nation, transgender students and activists are fighting for such a change to be made at schools, despite resistance.
Recently, a Missouri high school saw 100 students walk out in protest after a transgender girl used the girls’ restroom. The student, identified as senior Lila Perry, initially received permission from the school to use the girls’ bathroom and locker rooms.
