UK Government Consultation: a Step Forward For Women, or a Step Back for LGBTQ Community?
Earlier this year, the UK government launched a consultation regarding regulations to ensure single-sex toilet facilities are compulsory in new buildings or those being developed. However, what some say is a step forward for women, others say is a backwards step for the LGBTQ community.
Aimed to address the “misconceptions that removing sex-specific toilets are a requirement of equality legislation,” a public consultation by the Ministry of Housing and Communities concluded that the provision of gender-specific toilets and accompanying signage is essential. This will result in amended building regulations to ensure single-sex toilet facilities are installed, and buildings that provide gender-neutral facilities will be required to provide men and women self-contained cubicles.
A government spokesperson said: “We recently carried out a call for evidence to ensure better provision of toilets. Women often face excessive queues or don’t have access to appropriate facilities that meet their needs when out.
“This can mean that women are reluctant to go out or take trips that many take for granted and are less likely to feel comfortable using mixed-sex facilities. There needs to be a public service provision for everyone in our community, and this review will help to deliver on that objective.”
The LGBTQ community and organisations have campaigned for more gender-neutral toilet facilities across the UK to promote inclusivity and reduce discrimination, with organisations such as the BBC, Channel 4, HSBC, and the British Army among them. However, there seems to be one fundamental issue – the design. There are no rules to determine a gender-neutral toilet, causing it to become a sticky issue. What exactly defines one?
The NUS defines gender-neutral facilities as those ‘which do not have gendered signage, and which do not require the person using them to define into a gender,’ which suits the requirements of the LGBTQ community, particularly those who are transgender or do not conform to a gender. However, despite the facilities doubling the provision for males, it places women at a significant disadvantage since they cannot use urinals, and some feel uncomfortable sharing with males.
A recent hate crime report by Galop, an LGBTQ anti-violence charity, found transgender people face startlingly high levels of harassment in toilets. Nearly two-thirds of UK transgender participants felt they could not use public single-sex toilets due to transphobia, and as many as one in five had experience with sexual assault within a toilet. This was particularly the case for non-binary and transgender males.
Chris Anderson, a transgender male, is repeatedly challenged whenever he uses a male toilet. He said: “There have been many times someone has questioned me using a male toilet. I just get looks, and some of my experiences have been scary.”
Chris recalls his worst experience, which happened in his first few months of transitioning. He said: “I was in the female toilet in a hotel and a woman aggressively told me to leave. When I didn’t, she approached security, who took me into a room to have a chat. Having to explain was mortifying, and even once I explained, the woman followed me around until I left. The only reason I was in there was that I wasn’t quite ready to use the other toilet.
“If I’m going into a public toilet, I will always make sure the toilet is busy and try to look at the ground as much as possible. If I can, I’ll ask a friend to stand outside the door of the cubicle. Not only do I get strange looks, but I get called female names and laughed at. I can’t go into the female toilet as the reaction is worse.
“I feel these new changes are taking transgender people back ten years or so. Just when we think it’s becoming more acceptable, and we’re more accepted, the UK government does this to us. We’re back to being alienated again, and it’s not fair.”
Research by YouGov on whether public spaces should have separate toilets, gender-neutral toilets, or both, has revealed 52% of those asked, thought there should be separate toilets. This compares to just 7% who believed there should be only gender-neutral toilets. So, it seems the government is listening to the public; however, it appears to be at the expense of LGBTQ people.
In what has been already a huge year for the LGBTQ community – with breakthroughs including the first global conference on LGBTQ rights, Girlguiding UK declaring itself a transgender-inclusive charity, and the unveiling of the UK's first multi-coloured transgender flag road crossing, to name a few – could also be the year that sets it back.
Whilst these changes do not affect Scotland, the issues of gender-neutral toilets and the balancing act of ensuring all communities feel represented do. For Women Scotland (FWS), a women’s rights group, has criticised the wider implementation of mixed-sex facilities and called upon Westminster to issue guidance to the Scottish government on the need for single-sex toilets. What happens in England and Wales may have a bearing on the future of equality and inclusivity in Scotland.
Gendered Intelligence (GI), a charity campaigning to increase the understanding of gender diversity and improve the lives of transgender people, has said: “Toilet facilities is a key area where trans, non-binary, and other gender-diverse people face barriers to access.
“Our intentions to seek inclusive and available public toilets for trans, non-binary and other gender diverse people do not seek to undermine or compete with women’s rights to also have access to private toilet facilities. There is no hierarchy of rights – it is a matter of support and access for all.”