Two of Benicia High School’s most prominent student activist clubs have been working to promote a more inclusive campus. To further this, the club’s student leaders have been promoting the establishment of a gender-neutral, single occupancy restroom.

The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and Intersectional Gender Equity and Feminism (IGEF) clubs have joined forces to craft a proposal recommending that at least one of the school’s single-occupancy bathrooms change its signage to reflect being open to transgender and gender non-conforming students.

“Students cannot succeed in academia if they feel unsafe or unwelcome in their learning environment,” the proposal states. “This proposal would establish at least one all gender/gender neutral bathroom in order to create a safer, more inclusive learning environment for transgender and gender non-conforming students and their allies.”

Valentina Quintana, GSA president and club member for all her four years of high school, said she had wanted to establish an all-gender bathroom for a couple of years and frequently mentioned it at student forums.

“It wasn’t until my sophomore year that GSA wanted to implement a gender-neutral bathroom at the school,” she said. “We brought it up multiple times at school forums, and it was mainly brushed off for a couple of years.”

The legislation was authored by IGEF President Caitlyn Clark. Much like how GSA advocates for a healthier environment for LGBTQ-identifying youth, the IGEF club works to do the same by providing a voice for all genders. The club was formed in the 2016-17 school year as the Gender Equality Club, but Clark said the name was changed at the start of the year to better reflect the club’s goals.

“We all just kind of felt like gender equality wasn’t necessarily a good representation of what we were really trying to achieve as a club and that the new name represents us a little bit more accurately,” she said.

Clark said the school has a number of students who identify as transgender or non-binary but also felt the school culture had misconceptions about these groups.

“The idea behind the all-gender bathroom is that not only is it practical for us to have on campus to make it a safer place for trans and non-binary kids, but it’s also somewhat symbolic in that it shows that our school, from an administrative level, understands and appreciates that we have transgender and non binary kids in our school and wants to do as much as they can to support them and make sure they feel safe to come to school,” she said.

The proposal cites other pieces of legislation, including the Title IX Education Amendment of 1972 which stipulates that students should not be denied access to programs or activities on the basis of sex, a 2015 US Transgender Survey which showed that 59 percent of all transgender Americans have avoided public bathrooms because they feared confrontations, and California’s Equal Restroom Access Act which requires bathrooms in businesses and schools intended for use by no more than one person at a time to display gender-neutral signage.

Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt said the administration is in favor of the proposal.

“The BHS administration is supportive of our student clubs and student voice,” she said. “We are supportive of the proposal for a gender-neutral bathroom at Benicia High School as we want all of our students to feel that they are welcome and safe at school, including when they use the restroom.”

Benicia High currently has a variety of single-occupancy bathrooms, which Kleinschmidt said are mostly reserved for staff and students with disabilities.

“Being that BHS has a mix of buildings that are over 50 years old and buildings that are over 10 years old, the restroom facilities vary greatly between those buildings due to changes in school construction over the years,” she said. “None of our current buildings were designed with gender-neutral bathrooms in mind so we have to take additional steps to identify the best facilities and locations.”

Kleinschmidt said she had been communicating with the District Office to talk about the next steps, and that she had received messages of support, including from Special Services Director Dr. Carolyn Patton. District representatives could not be reached for comment by press time.

Quintana said the proposal had been discussed at club meetings and student forums. Clark also posted the proposal to the IGEF Twitter account and gathered “signatures” by asking students to favorite the tweet.

“That was a good way of getting the word out to our school and even within the community of Benicia as a whole because we have supporters outside of school like the Benicia Teen Center and Benicia Public Library who have been great allies for our club,” Clark said.

Opponents of gender-neutral bathrooms have frequently mentioned safety issues, but Quintana feels these arguments are unfounded.

“In reality, trans kids don’t feel safe going into either bathroom the majority of the time,” she said.

Clark said the Parent Teacher Student Association has a $3,000 grant and suggested that about $10 to $15 be used to pay for a new sign.

According to Kleinschmidt, the next step would be for the school to discuss the proposal with the District Office and school board to determine the best locations for gender-neutral bathrooms, change the signs and make any necessary changes or repairs to the bathrooms.

“Overall, the steps and cost are minimal,” she said.

Both clubs feel that a gender-neutral bathroom would be a positive step forward for the school in promoting acceptance of transgender and non-binary students.

“It’s not even just about having a specific bathroom for trans people,” Quintana said. “It’s just having a gender-neutral bathroom where kids feel safe going into is literally just showing to non gender-conforming and trans kids that our school accepts them and our school is here for them. It’s a physical way of showing that we accept the LGBTQ community.”