Task Force: Fighting for Gender Neutral Restrooms

Congratulations!

You work for an organization that fights for the rights of trans and non-binary people. You have been tasked with designing an advocacy plan to persuade business, school, and government leaders to make gender neutral restrooms more widely available in public spaces. 

Why Are We Doing This?

Today, trans and non-binary people face many forms of discrimination, but one is accessing restrooms that correspond with their gender. Making sure that every school, business, office, or government building has private, gender neutral restrooms for all people to use, is a key way to fight discrimination. However, these changes are not always easy to make. From people fighting the idea, to building design issues, to general confusion, changing bathroom structure and policy has been difficult. For this task force, you will design an advocacy strategy aimed at increasing awareness and prompting change. 

Steps

1. Research some the issues related to restrooms and gender discrimination. 
   1. What do trans and non-binary people say about the need for gender neutral restrooms? What happens when these spaces are not available? 
   2. What are some other issues that come up? (Think building design, space, and other logistical issues)
   3. What solutions have been proposed or tried?
2. Now, craft your advocacy plan. Consider the following questions:  
   1. Who will be the main target of your advocacy work? Government? Businesses? Schools? Where do you think your efforts will be most effective?  
   2. How will you convince them of the need for gender neutral restrooms? 
   3. How will you respond to objections? 
   4. How can you make existing buildings more accessible? What policies will you advocate for in new construction? 
   5. Should different places have different rules? How so? 
   6. Will your advocacy involve trying to change public opinion? How?  
3. Share with the group and see if you can convince them that your plan will help increase access to gender neutral restrooms. 

Things to Keep in Mind:

• You do not have to come up with an exhaustive plan. It’s better to come up with a few ideas that you feel confident with and spend time thinking through possible objections to them. 
• You don’t have to worry about answering all possible objections, but you should have some defense of why you think your idea would work.