On the second day of June during the ongoing Pride Month, Assam’s premier educational institution, Tezpur Central University, inaugurated three gender neutral toilets and washrooms for the LGBQT community. Three gender neutral toilets have been built in the social work department. Of the three toilets, one is for staff, the other for students in the Humanities and Social Sciences buildings on the first floor.
Elaborating on the university’s decision, Namami Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, said, “It was Rituparna who was known as ‘The Story Mama’ on Instagram and queer rights activist who was a guest at a workshop. As in university. Told me about the drawback when she realized that there was no place where she could change into a saree. Since they didn’t use the gents washroom, it was a big hurdle. It was then that we sympathized with the issue and felt an urgent need for a place where many people like Rituparna could live comfortably and use them easily for basic needs.
“We took up the issue with the Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Farhina Danta. They were appreciative of our offer and since we had existing facilities, it was not a big problem,” said Namami Sharma.
The university had decided to convert the department’s staff toilets into three gender-neutral toilets in social welfare. Of the three toilets, one is for staff, the other for students in the Humanities and Social Sciences buildings on the first floor.
“First of all many thanks to Tezpur Central University for taking this initiative and feeling for people like us. Although I insist that we should have toilets, this is the first time I have seen this happen in my state. We need this support. I myself have to insist for hours at public places including airports and railway stations. I use female toilets but have been turned away by guards in public toilets or asked to use male toilets,” said Suman Mandal, professional make-up artist and a trans woman.
According to Namami Sharma the LGBQT community is represented in the university who were less comfortable using the boys’ toilets in the hostels. Saharma said that gender neutral toilets are definitely a right step to address these issues.
Unisex public toilets (also known as gender-inclusive, gender-neutral, mixed-gender or all-gender, or without any prefix) are public toilets that do not segregate by gender or gender.
Unisex public toilets take various forms. They can be single occupancy facilities where only a single room or enclosure is provided, or multi-user facilities that are open to all and where users can either share the sink in the open area or each have their own private Room, stall or may have its own sink. room. Unisex public toilets can either replace single-sex toilets or be in addition to single-sex toilets.
Unisex public toilets can be used by people of any gender or gender identity. Such toilet facilities can benefit the transgender population and those outside the gender binary. Gender-segregation in public toilets (also called sex segregation), in contrast to unisex toilets, is the separation of public toilets into male and female. This separation is sometimes enforced by local laws and building codes.
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