Most people believe that a bathroom should not be a site of stress. However, for many or trans and nonbinary people, the search for the “correct” bathroom is its own struggle.

Lil Bresee, the president of SUNY Oswego’s LGBT club, Pride Alliance, said they feel “better off” using gender-neutral bathrooms because of the privacy and comfort they offer. Still, Bresee said there are not enough gender-neutral bathrooms on campus.

“If they were more frequent, I would just use them,” Bresee said. “Instead, I choose to get over myself and use whichever room I pass for. But that’s not right either.” 

There are four residence halls with gender-neutral bathrooms: Scales Hall, Waterbury Hall, Funnelle Hall and Riggs Hall. Riggs Hall has only two unmarked gender-neutral restrooms in the basement which are not mentioned on the school website. Excluding residence halls, a tour of the campus found six gender-neutral bathrooms: three in Mary Walker Health Center, one in Penfield Library, one in Tyler Hall and one in Marano Campus Center. The bathroom in MCC, however, is in an obscure area by Swetman Gymnasium behind another door.

Many faculty and student leaders vocalize support for trans-inclusivity. However, some people on campus find ways to express their disapproval. Facilities Services received many reports of menstrual product dispensers in male and gender-neutral bathrooms being found vandalized.

The university asks students to contact Title IX coordinator Lisa Evaneski if they believe they were discriminated against or harassed in a campus bathroom. 

“I think everybody should be able to go to the bathroom where they feel comfortable,” Evaneski said. “I think that’s the most basic human need to be able to do that.”

Evaneski said that there are students who have gotten urinary tract infections from waiting to get to a building with a gender-neutral bathroom. For students on hormone therapy, she said, this can cause additional issues. 

The planning committee for the Hewitt Hall renovation approved of featuring gender-neutral bathrooms on every floor. 

Broadcasting professor Michael Riecke is the representative of the School of Communication, Media and the Arts for the renovation. Riecke supported the inclusion of gender-neutral bathrooms.

“The days of a men’s room and a women’s room exclusively are behind us,” Riecke said.

The plans included one pair of gendered bathrooms on the first floor. The planners made the decision to be welcome to those who are unfamiliar with gender-neutral bathrooms. 

“It’s a hard transition for people who have lived their entire 50, 60, 70 years of life looking for [a gendered] symbol in front of the bathroom door,” Riecke said.

Evaneski recognized that these changes may be too slow for some students.

“They have a commitment to make these bathrooms more inclusive in the future, but they might not get to a building for three or four years,” Evaneski said. “I think for students especially, they want it done now while they’re still here.”

Evaneski assured, however, that the university is “doing the best we can.”

In June 2021, the SUNY Board of Trustees issued a resolution  authorizing “all public single-occupancy bathroom facilities at each state-operated institution shall be designated as gender neutral for use by no more than one occupant at a time or for family or assisted use.”

In most renovations since 2015, Facilities Services upgraded single-occupancy bathrooms to be gender-neutral. However, many single-occupancy bathrooms on campus, such as in Tyler Hall, are still gendered. 

Last semester, the university’s Office of the President formed a committee dedicated to inclusive practices for LGBT students. The committee included bathroom changes and pronoun guides in their agenda.

In December 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Assembly Bill A5420  which required all single-occupancy bathrooms in public spaces to be labeled gender-neutral.

Photo by: Evan Youngs