Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about bathrooms. On the surface, this certainly may seem like an odd start to a blog — or any conversation for that matter. But bathrooms matter. Not having access to bathrooms can be a significant barrier to transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and agender individuals.

Several states recently have been debating and passing “bathroom bills,” which restrict access to appropriate bathrooms for trans individuals. This makes me think about how unconscious cisgender privilege drives the process and gets reinforced (that is, the privilege of having one biological sex match one’s gender identity).

As a cisgender woman, I have the privilege of not having to think twice about which bathroom I use. I don’t think about bathrooms when I’m shopping, out to eat, at work, or traveling. If I need to use the restroom, I push open the women’s restroom and enter. I’m never afraid. I never look around to see if someone is watching me enter. I never scan the bathroom for my safety. My cisgender privilege allows me to not have to think about these things at all.

If you happen to be cisgender, think about this for a minute. Think about the places you frequent and ponder how things would change if you didn’t know whether you would be able to access safe and appropriate bathrooms. Would your favorite coffee shop be as appealing if there wasn’t an accessible bathroom? What about going to classes through your day?

What if you were required by law to use only bathrooms designated as being for the opposite gender? What if every time you had to use a public restroom you had to share it with those from a different gender than your own?  This is what is being debated and enacted into law in states and cities right now, directed at transgender adults and youth.

So, yes, I ask you to think about bathrooms. I invite you to walk in someone else’s shoes and see the world through their eyes.  I also invite you take action and become an ally, e.g., speak up when the topic arises, advocate for single gender bathrooms and individuals’ rights to access safe and appropriate bathrooms for their gender.

Together we can create a safer and more inclusive world for everyone.

Stacie Rowan, Ph.D.

Case Manager & Senior Staff Psychologist