The implementation of mixed toilets to accommodate trans students in schools resurfaced in the National Assembly last week, prompting the Minister of Education to ban their implementation. A gesture that goes against practices promoting the safety and well-being of young trans people, according to speakers, parents and teenagers.
The ban on installing mixed toilets in schools frankly surprised Élianne*, a young 18-year-old trans woman. The position taken by the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, goes directly against a problem raised by students from her former high school and a solution found by the management of this establishment located in Sherbrooke. .
“One of the two bathrooms reserved for girls was transformed into a gender-neutral bathroom,” she says. Its implementation was decided in the wake of a petition from students demanding neutral (or mixed, or gender-neutral) restrooms which included several dozen names, that is to say much more than the number of trans teens attending this school. The place has two toilet cubicles and two sinks accessible to all, which Élianne used without fear, unlike the toilets for girls or boys.
Jacob, an 18-year-old non-binary student, did not have this option at his high school in the Rosemont district of Montreal.
As I’m not very masculine, I didn’t feel safe in the boys’ bathroom. I went to the girls’ room, but I got looked at weird.
Jacob, 18-year-old non-binary student
Zest, a 14-year-old trans boy, feels this discomfort both in the girls’ and boys’ bathrooms at his school in central Montreal. “It seems like I’m not supposed to be here,” he said. Since my transition is not complete, if I go to boys, I’m afraid they will mistake me for a girl. I don’t want to go through a situation like that, so I’m not taking the risk. » Which means that, for fear of being bullied, he often avoids going to the bathroom at school. This caused him health problems, specifies his mother Alysia Melnychuk.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Zest and his mother, Alysia Melnychuk
Mixed toilets prohibited
Talking about access to toilets may seem trivial. This is far from being the case for many trans and non-binary people, confirms Jorge Flores-Aranda, professor at the UQAM School of Social Work. “Many of these people are victims of violence in the toilets,” adds his colleague Martin Blais, professor of sexology at the same university. The fact that this place is hidden from the view of adults makes it a place conducive to bullying in schools, point out several speakers.
In the middle of the week, the issue of toilets became a hot topic in the National Assembly after a high school in Abitibi announced that it wanted to implement mixed toilets. The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, associated this trend with an ideology supported by the “radical left”, such as inclusive writing. The Minister of Education put a stop to this type of operation, worrying in particular that the proximity would cause boys to make fun of girls who are menstruating, and pleading for the establishment of a committee of experts to guide his ministry.
“That really insulted me,” says Geneviève Ste-Marie, mother of two trans children aged 15 and 18, and coordinator of the TransEstrie organization. “He thinks all our children are misogynistic dunces who prey on young girls who are menstruating? Well then ! It’s 2023! And if we’re still saying that boys still laugh about girls’ periods, it’s perhaps because there is a problem with the sex education of children. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Maël and his mother, Geneviève Ste-Marie
What shocked Élianne was that the discussion took place in isolation. “We haven’t heard from a single trans person. They don’t consider the voices of trans people,” laments the young woman, who is now studying at CEGEP. Jacob, for his part, judges that we are exploiting a group of people “who just want to live their lives like the others”.
Protect who? What ?
Jorge Flores-Aranda and Martin Blais note that the appropriation of issues concerning trans communities by certain political parties is done for electoral purposes. “In the case of the Conservative Party [fédéral]it’s quite clear,” underlines Mr. Blais.
Martin Blais also notes a form of reversal of responsibility in the way the debate is posed.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS
Martin Blais
The threat is placed on trans people, as if they represented a threat to the safety of cisgender people and an attack on modesty.
Martin Blais, professor of sexology at UQAM
One of the fears expressed more or less directly by some parents is that mixed toilets facilitate attacks perpetrated on cisgender girls. “That means that girls don’t feel safe when there are guys around,” emphasizes Élianne, implying that this fear is not based on the presence of trans people. “School principals are more concerned about the reactions of parents of cisgender children than about the safety of trans children,” denounces Geneviève Ste-Marie. What we ask trans students is to take steps not to bother cisgender students. »
There is no magic or perfect solution to resolve the problem “in a society built on binary”, believes Jacob. The installation of mixed toilets, therefore non-gendered, and accessible to all, however seems to be a solution which has a consensus or almost among the speakers and the teenagers interviewed. This type of toilet is made up of a row of cubicles closed from floor to ceiling and sinks accessible to all.
“When done well, unisex toilets are the safest and most intimate. I think it’s an advantage for everyone,” says Kim, a worker at Aide aux trans du Québec. This is the solution that Zest would choose. “I feel more comfortable in mixed toilets,” says the 14-year-old. I don’t feel like my gender is a problem or that I’m not like others. »
Martin Blais points out that this type of installation is nothing new and that it is a safe option for everyone. “Cities and institutions have set up gender-neutral toilets and we have not seen the number of attacks increase,” he says, “and the victimization of trans people decreases in contexts like these. »
*Only the first names of certain trans people cited are used to preserve their anonymity.
Trans lexicon
Trans
Umbrella term for anyone who does not identify with their gender assigned at birth
Non-binary
Person who identifies with neither the masculine nor the feminine gender and rejects this so-called “binary” vision of the human being. A non-binary person can adopt pronouns associated with one or the other gender (“he/him” or “she”) or ask to be referred to by the neologism “they”.
Cisgender
A person whose identity reflects the gender assigned at birth, as opposed to a trans or non-binary person