EvCC is no stranger to the LGBTQIA+ community. With resources such as The Triangle Alliance, Safe Zone and Pride Center all geared towards creating a safe space for students, it’s no surprise gender-neutral restrooms are in the future.

As of early April, construction has begun on one of the main bathrooms located in Parks Student Union to turn it into a gender-neutral and accessible space. The new bathroom, conveniently located across from the Parks Cafe and Pride Center, will have floor to ceiling stalls and occupancy signs.

The new bathroom will not have any classification as male or female and is not the first non-gendered bathroom on the EvCC campus. There are actually six other single-stalled restrooms scattered across campus. These restrooms are located in the Student Fitness Center near the weight room, the first floor of Gray Wolf Hall, second floor of Parks Student Union, second floor of Olympus Hall, and both second and third floors of Whitehorse Hall. The new bathroom, however, will be the first of EvCC’s gender neutral bathrooms to be multi-stalled.

With six already existing gender-neutral bathrooms, it could be asked why another is set to be built. Pride Center Coordinator & President of Triangle Alliance Sammie Estremera said the push for the bathroom actually came from the students. “It was a student-driven project,” said Estremera.

The project has been in the works since fall of 2015 when students came together to form a committee that pushed for the restroom. A rather large petition was also circulating at the time, but the project had already been approved before the petition could even be completed. “There was also a lot of staff support, we couldn’t have done it without the staff,” Estremera explained.

According to Estremera, the demand for the new restroom was sparked by a student need for a comfortable place where LGBTQIA+ students would not feel pressured or afraid based on the gender they chose to identify with in order to use the restroom. The previously existing bathroom also had significant issues with ADA requirements and was not completely wheelchair accessible as the new restroom will be. “It (the restroom) doesn’t just benefit LGBTQIA+ students either,” Estremera said. “The new bathroom also solves the issue that differently gendered parents and children might face. A mother could take her son into the bathroom.”

When asked about any safety concerns that could arise from the new restroom, Estremera was confident in its security. “Statistically, you’re more likely to be shot by a dog that assaulted in a gender-neutral restroom.” Having been the member in charge of fact-checking on the previously mentioned bathroom committee, Estremera is fluent on the topic. She stated that in all of her research she could not find one credibly-documented case of a man dressing as a woman and sexually assaulting someone in a bathroom. She also surveyed other community colleges in the area who have implemented gender-neutral bathrooms and found that they have had no issues.

The new bathroom “lets gender nonconforming students know that they are safe and welcome,” Estremera said with a smile. The bathroom is set to be completed in fall of 2017.