Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

A restroom more helpful than harmful

Coronado High likely to soon have transgender and nonbinary lavatory

The nonbinary flag
The nonbinary flag

In response to the School Success and Opportunity Act, made effective on January 1 of 2014 by governor Jerry Brown, Coronado High School is working in conjunction with the student-run Gay-Straight Alliance to give transgender or nonbinary students a private bathroom space.

The School Success and Opportunity Act, which is the first of its kind in the country, requires that California public schools respect students’ gender identity and ensure that all students can participate in school activities, sports teams, after-school programs, and use the facilities that match their gender identity. This act explicitly allows students to choose the bathroom that coincides with their gender, but students who don’t identify as either male or female might feel uncomfortable in a single-gender bathroom.

Walker Hewitt, 18, is a senior at Coronado High and the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance. In his last weeks of high school, he’s taken on the challenge of converting a rarely used staff bathroom into an all-gender bathroom, a step that he believes would make several members of the LGBT community more comfortable at school.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“An all-gender bathroom would also increase awareness and representation for the transgender and nonbinary community,” he said. “Legally, I think there will be a lot of steps and it's gonna be pretty crazy making this happen, but I have hope and dedication.”

Principal Jenny Moore said that the issue of a transgender or nonbinary student needing a private bathroom space has come up in the past and that the school has been able to respond with a short-term solution.

“I think that all schools are struggling with the dilemma of providing a long-term solution,” she said, citing “family bathrooms” as an example of how public spaces have solved the issue. “Having a locking bathroom available at a school raises some safety concerns, but in the instance we had a student who needed a private space, we would provide access.”

According to a survey conducted in July 2014 by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, over 150 schools across the country have an all-gender bathroom available to students. Parents and families in these communities have claimed that all-gender bathrooms are an invasion of privacy, an attack on traditional values and a way to promote spying on the opposite sex. However, Hewitt believes that an all-gender bathroom would help more people than it has the potential to harm.

“There are some very legitimate concerns with an all-gender bathroom on a school campus,” said Hewitt. “But in the case of students spying on one another...we’re almost adults. We should know better.”

Though no date has been set, Hewitt said that CHS students can expect to see an all-gender bathroom on campus by 2016.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Next Article

Croome Brothers Trio, Jack Tempchin, Ricky, Swami & the Bed Of Nails, Kahlil Nash

Acoustic and electric in Del Mar, La Jolla, Little Italy, and City Heights
The nonbinary flag
The nonbinary flag

In response to the School Success and Opportunity Act, made effective on January 1 of 2014 by governor Jerry Brown, Coronado High School is working in conjunction with the student-run Gay-Straight Alliance to give transgender or nonbinary students a private bathroom space.

The School Success and Opportunity Act, which is the first of its kind in the country, requires that California public schools respect students’ gender identity and ensure that all students can participate in school activities, sports teams, after-school programs, and use the facilities that match their gender identity. This act explicitly allows students to choose the bathroom that coincides with their gender, but students who don’t identify as either male or female might feel uncomfortable in a single-gender bathroom.

Walker Hewitt, 18, is a senior at Coronado High and the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance. In his last weeks of high school, he’s taken on the challenge of converting a rarely used staff bathroom into an all-gender bathroom, a step that he believes would make several members of the LGBT community more comfortable at school.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“An all-gender bathroom would also increase awareness and representation for the transgender and nonbinary community,” he said. “Legally, I think there will be a lot of steps and it's gonna be pretty crazy making this happen, but I have hope and dedication.”

Principal Jenny Moore said that the issue of a transgender or nonbinary student needing a private bathroom space has come up in the past and that the school has been able to respond with a short-term solution.

“I think that all schools are struggling with the dilemma of providing a long-term solution,” she said, citing “family bathrooms” as an example of how public spaces have solved the issue. “Having a locking bathroom available at a school raises some safety concerns, but in the instance we had a student who needed a private space, we would provide access.”

According to a survey conducted in July 2014 by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, over 150 schools across the country have an all-gender bathroom available to students. Parents and families in these communities have claimed that all-gender bathrooms are an invasion of privacy, an attack on traditional values and a way to promote spying on the opposite sex. However, Hewitt believes that an all-gender bathroom would help more people than it has the potential to harm.

“There are some very legitimate concerns with an all-gender bathroom on a school campus,” said Hewitt. “But in the case of students spying on one another...we’re almost adults. We should know better.”

Though no date has been set, Hewitt said that CHS students can expect to see an all-gender bathroom on campus by 2016.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.