The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in the USA has now made it mandatory for all public schools under it to adopt new signage for their student washrooms and toilets, making them ‘gender neutral’. Calling it a big step towards gender equity, the CPS has asked the schools to use signage that tells the students that they can use the toilets irrespective of their gender identities.
In a tweet, CPS informed that they are now requiring all schools to adopt new signage to make restrooms ‘more inclusive’. “This is a big step towards gender equity for our students and staff,” it added.
The new signage in school toilets has been implemented starting December 1.
ICYMI: We’re requiring all schools to adopt new signage to make our restrooms more inclusive. This is a big step forward for gender equity for our students and staff. pic.twitter.com/4JPBdd1jQy
— CPS – Chicago Public Schools (@ChiPubSchools) November 30, 2021
CPS officer Camie Pratt said in a video, “All CPS students and staff will have fair and equitable access to bathroom facilities that align with their gender identity.” She added that the signage will “make it clear that all restrooms are open for use by anyone who feels comfortable and will increase gender equality for all.”
The new signages indicate the fixtures available inside the restroom and announce that it is open to users of any gender identity and expression. Other signages include “This restroom has stalls/urinals and all who feel comfortable can use them” and “This is a gender-neutral restroom with multiple stalls, it is open to users of any gender identity and expression”.
CPS has stated that going forward they will introduce a long-term plan to make the changes more permanent.
Woke politics of gender-neutral toilets
Implementing gender-neutral toilets are one of the first steps in the gender identity politics that is now taking over the public discourse across many nations. Trans activists and gender equity activists claim that separate toilets for men and women promote inequality and are not inclusive. They refuse to acknowledge safety concerns and the need for girls of a vulnerable age to have their privacy protected.
Though the madness is yet to find much hold in India, the attempts to bring gender-neutral toilets to Indian schools are already afoot. Recently, OpIndia had reported about an NCERT teachers training manual that had proposed gender-neutral toilets and puberty blockers for children in Indian schools to promote ‘gender inclusiveness’. After a massive uproar, the NCERT document was removed from their website. Child rights body NCPCR had called the NCERT document ‘a conspiracy to traumatise school students’.
In Scotland, political pressure and the threat of lawsuits from gender activists had made many educational institutions adopt gender-neutral toilets. Recently, reports have emerged saying that young schoolgirls have been traumatised and many of them have stopped using school toilets altogether, because of the shame and harassment they face. There have been incidents where sanitary bins have been urinated on, and boys started waving tampons. Parents had protested stating that 12-year-old girls are being forced to use the same toilets in the presence of 18-year-old boys, raising serious concerns about their safety and comfort.
