The bathroom battle: Will gender neutral restrooms work?

With the iconic scrapping of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 2018, the LGBTQAI+ community in the country is witnessing a major change in the attitude of the general public towards them.

That being said, the country is still far from providing the members of the community with a quality lifestyle that is safe and unperturbed. People belonging to the transgender, intersex and non-binary community especially face a lot of prejudice and discrimination that often pose a threat to their wellbeing. 

One of the major issues faced by the genderqueer community is the absence of safe restrooms in public spaces. 

Despite the declaration by the central government in 2017 making people belonging to the transgender community eligible to use the restroom of their choice, a large number of people are still left in the dark. The Tamil Nadu government’s decision to build a third gender restroom in places where the trans community live in large numbers is yet another futile move as narrowing down such places is not easy.

“I believe one can't find out whether genderqueer people live in large number in a place or not, maybe hijra-kinnar can be identified that easily but not everyone. Hence we need to make these everywhere. This can be taken as an act to make people understand that such people are everywhere not just in some big metro cities as it is often propagated,” says Chittajit Mitra, a queer book blogger and activist.

People not comfortable with abiding by the male/female labels that most public restrooms fall under or people not wanting to use cisgender labeled spaces are left with no options whatsoever. 

“I believe in a country like India, gender neutral restrooms are a no-no. Public restroom aren't safe for women, trans people, genderqueer people or even for many men. Hence, I would prefer a third separate restroom than a common one keeping security as the main issue. Even if the government let the trans community use the restroom of their choice, will trans women be allowed by cis-women into the restrooms? Or will trans men be safe in restrooms for men? Already people from the hijra-kinnar community are being raped not only by the commoners but also by police, hence I would always say that a third restroom would be preferable.” he adds.

Another move that could come in handy is building more single stall restrooms and implementing CCTV systems in all places. Better strategies to ensure the safety of the LGBTQ+ community in the country is the need of the hour.