Gender-affirming restrooms recommended for schools

Educational policies and practices should explicitly ensure the wellbeing and healthy development of all students by supporting the right of students to use a bathroom in an institutional context that affirms their gender identity and expression. There are many ways that this can occur including providing gender-neutral restrooms in schools, says Laura Wernick of Fordham University in the US, lead author of a study in Springer’s Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Co-authored with Alex Kulick and Matthew Chin, the study showed that ensuring safe access to bathrooms and other school facilities for trans students is vital if educational equality is to be ensured.