The Associated Students of UNM unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday encouraging the addition of universal restrooms and altering other plans for Johnson Gym’s soon-to-begin renovations.
At its final senate meeting of the semester, Sen. Hallie Brown, who sponsored the legislation, said it was born out of a desire for safety and inclusion.
The universal restrooms come with multiple uses for all students. Sen. Justin Cooper said the universal changing rooms also assist those with disabilities, allowing another person of a different gender to assist them if need be.
As of right now, Johnson Gym is accessibility compliant but not Americans with Disabilities Act-friendly, Cooper said, and the resolution is a step towards improving the widely-used facility in that respect.
Frankie Flores, a staff member at the LGBTQ Resource Center on campus, spoke in support of the resolution before a vote was taken, emphasizing the impact that universal restrooms have.
“When transgender students access (gender-segregated) bathrooms, they are afraid. It is not the transgender people that are enacting the violence; it is the transgender people that violence is being acted upon,” Flores said.
Flores said that 54 percent of transgender individuals receive urinary tract infections and other diseases because they don’t use the bathroom, sometimes stemming from that fear.
“We have UNM students that are doing that exact thing right now,” he said.
Queer and Straight Alliance Advocacy Chair Jesse Yelvington offered his own testimony, saying that while he has access to the necessary medical care he needs and can utilize a restroom for men, others might not be as fortunate.
“There are a lot of people that don’t have that privilege and have that to worry about,” he said. “There are a lot of non-binary individuals that do not feel comfortable with using either the men’s or women’s restroom.”
The term used for non-binary individuals by the UNM LGBTQ Resource Center is “two-spirited,” meaning people who display both masculine and feminine characteristics. Flores said there are many more individuals than previously believed who declare themselves as “two-spirited”.
According to a leaflet provided by the LGBTQ Resource Center, the term implies “a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit living in the same body”.
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“This notion that everyone is binary, that everyone is assigned one, either male or female, isn’t necessarily correct. Intersexual people do exist. One in 2000 people are intersexual, so it is more common than you think,” Flores said.
Amy Coburn, director of planning and campus development, expressed her support for the resolution’s intent in an email to the Daily Lobo. Other officials have suggested universal restrooms as a possible standard for future renovations and campus plans.
“As University Architect, I will work with my colleagues to provide universal facilities in new project construction and significant building renovations,” Coburn said.
In advocating for the resolution, Brown said each student should feel as safe as the next when utilizing restrooms in a facility like Johnson Gym.
“No one should feel unsafe having to go to the restroom or when changing their clothes, and that’s what we are trying to change with this resolution,” she said.
Yelvington said that what might not be a big deal to most students could be another student’s greatest fear.
“Many people do not have to think about these type of things, but for transgender students and transgender people in general, these are things that float around in our mind all the time,” Yelvington said. “We are worried about our safety.”
Denicia Aragon is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com on Twitter @DailyLobo.
