While gender may seem purely biological, gender is based on more than an X or Y chromosome. Gender is based on how one feels about oneself. So in the case involving transgender people and people who do not conform to either gender how will one of the basic necessities such as a bathroom accommodate? A solution that has been suggested is removing the labels off of the restrooms. Instead of making it a women's restroom or a men's restroom they make it everyone's restroom. There is a lot of controversy on this subject. On the side for gender neutral bathrooms it would not only be more inclusive for transgender and non-binary individuals, but also for opposite gender elderly couples that need assistance, or small fathers bringing their young daughter to the bathroom or vice versa (Gender). Another thing is to protect transgender and non-binary individuals, in the Huffington Post, Kim Bellware talks about the fact that forcing transgender individuals to go to their bathrooms 'constantly outs' them and stigmatizes them (Bellware). Transgender individuals may not look like the gender they identify with. The reason why people are against gender neutral bathrooms is because of safety, privacy and majority. People believe that it is dangerous for women to be sharing restrooms with men and many people would find it uncomfortable and a violation of privacy to be sharing their restroom with the opposite gender. It is also the fear of increasing the rate of sexual assault and inconsiderate to those who are sexual assault victims. Another argument that is brought up is that the majority of people are cisgender. There are counter arguments such as the assaults that are already happening because of the separate bathrooms, and also the assumption that sexual assault only happens to opposite gendered individuals. 

This topic interested me when I came across a gender neutral bathroom. I was looking for any inclination of which gender the bathroom was because it didn't specify. So I paced around looking for a women's or a men's sign because I had never come across a restroom that didn't have a sign. When I walked in I was surprised to see a man, when I was about to go leave, the man assured me that it was a gender neutral bathroom. We avoided eye contact and I barely noticed the rest. The bathroom situation did not bother me but just took me by surprise. I didn't understand the reasoning behind the gender neutral bathrooms at first, but I researched the topic and it piqued my interest. While I was not necessarily comfortable being in an enclosed room with the opposite gender, when it comes to function it does not make it any more difficult to use and when in a stall, I would not know whether it was a man or a woman in the adjacent stall. Gender neutral bathrooms did not affect my values, but it was a very different culture. I come from a culture that is more conservative.

The Case Against Fully Shifting to Gender Neutral Bathrooms 

In this article, the author writes about her own personal thought about gender neutral bathrooms. The writer talks about the majority of people who are cisgender, the fear of sexual assault and trade off. She begins talking about how she is not against any specific group but wants to explain her opinion. 

The stakeholders in her argument are cisgender people and women. The author does not talk that much about values but she talks about how everything is a trade off, implying that changing the bathrooms to gender neutral bathrooms will cause more problems than they will fix. She talks about how changing the bathrooms to gender neutral will put stress on cisgender individuals.

The writer talks about all of the problems with the changing to gender neutral bathrooms, but she only addresses one side of the argument. She talks about the possible stress it may put on cisgender but neglects to mention the current problem of transgender experiencing violence in the restrooms. She also makes the assumption that only men rape women.

West Hollywood's New Gender Neutral Bathrooms Are Progressive and Logical 

 In Laist article, Juliet Rylah talks about the West Hollywood's new requirement for all West Hollywood's gender specific bathroom signs to be taken down. She talks about the benefits of gender neutral bathrooms for children, elderly and transgender individuals. A member of Transgender Advisory Board talks about the safety issues regarding transgender safety. 

Transgender individuals will gain from this movement. Drian Juarez, a member of a West Hollywood Transgender Advisory Board talks about an incident in which a transgender student was attacked in the restroom he believed he belong to and was attacked. The attacker carved the word "it" into his chest. The movement also helps people who do not conform to a single gender. 

Juliet Rylah talks about a new movement that the entire city of West Hollywood is putting into effect, so she is talking about something real. She also has a quote from a credible source, Drian Juarez who herself is a transgender woman and is a part of an organization meant to help the transgender community. She also talks about a real incident that happened to a transgender man. 

San Francisco School Adopting Gender-Neutral Bathrooms 

At Miraloma Elementary school all of the signs on the girls and boys bathrooms have been taken off. In this article, Jill Tucker talks about the issues that children are having at this school with defining to one gender. She talks about a boy, Jae, who dresses like a girl but identifies as a boy. Jae's mother said in the article that he was most excited for the bathrooms. 

The children are having problems with their identities as such a young age. The children have to gain. In the article Jae's mother mentioned that while at Summer Camp, Jae did not want to face the other kids in the bathrooms because he looked like a girl but he was a boy so he never went to the restroom and wet himself instead. 

Jill Tucker is a journalist for San Francisco Gate, she is a prominent writer for SFGate who writes about school related issues and national policies that pertain to education. Her professional title is an education reporter which adds to her ethos because she has proven successful writing about education.

The issue of gender neutral bathrooms is arguable because it is very controversial. It is challenging a norm that has been established a long time ago. In the past we have thought that there were only two genders, male and female and thought of those to be two separate biological truths. It is traditional for men and women to be separated. None of the articles against gender neutral bathrooms have attacked transgender individuals in their arguments but talked about the safety problems and made assumptions. Those who are for the change talk about all the benefits and also address the fears of those who oppose but do not talk about the outcome of the changes. The articles who advocate the change do not talk about the cisgender individuals reaction to the restrooms but only those who benefit from it. I understand both sides and why both are concerned. I may revise my research question to how bathrooms can accommodate to both cisgender and transgender individuals. 

