{"id":48664,"date":"2016-08-16T11:30:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T21:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=48664"},"modified":"2019-02-12T14:10:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T00:10:56","slug":"uh-manoa-now-provides-all-gender-restrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2016\/08\/16\/uh-manoa-now-provides-all-gender-restrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> campuses now provide all-gender restrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qaH_gHnNU2A?showinfo=0\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Nine all-gender restrooms are now available at the <a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M&#257;noa<\/a> campus, and 73 percent of the bathrooms in the residence halls are all-gender bathrooms. All-gender restrooms are also available at <a href=\"http:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> Hilo<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.westoahu.hawaii.edu\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span><\/a>. Similar to &ldquo;family restrooms&rdquo; that can be found in some shopping malls and airports, each all-gender restroom is a lockable, single-stall and provides both <abbr title=\"Americans with Disabilities Act\">ADA<\/abbr> accessibility and privacy. <\/p>\n<p>Two student-led organizations led campaigns to actively bring attention to the issue on the M&#257;noa campus. The <a href=\"http:\/\/asuh.hawaii.edu\/\">Associated Students of the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/gso.hawaii.edu\/gso2\/\">Graduate Student Organization<\/a> passed resolutions in 2015 calling for more gender-neutral restrooms at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;<abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa is committed to ensuring a safe, respectful and diverse campus that is free from discrimination and harassment. The establishment of all-gender restrooms is tangible evidence of that commitment,&rdquo; said <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa Chancellor <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/chancellor\/about.html\">Robert Bley-Vroman<\/a><\/strong>. &ldquo;We applaud the work of the leadership and staff at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.manoa.hawaii.edu\/lgbt\/\"><abbr title=\"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and plus\">LGBTQ&#43;<\/abbr> Center<\/a>, facilities personnel and campus architects for working collaboratively and quickly to make these all-gender restrooms available for our students this fall.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/manoa-all-gender-restroom-260x178.jpg\" alt=\"Signage for all-gender restroom\" width=\"260\" height=\"178\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-48730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/manoa-all-gender-restroom-260x178.jpg 260w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/manoa-all-gender-restroom.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa <abbr>LGBTQ&#43;<\/abbr> Center also assisted <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo, which has more than 20 all-gender bathrooms, and <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>u, which has one all-gender bathroom and plans to add two more.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No one should ever feel uncomfortable using our restroom facilities,&rdquo; said <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo Chancellor <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/blog\/chancellor\/about\/donald-straney-bio\/\">Don Straney<\/a><\/strong>. &ldquo;That&#8217;s why we&#8217;ve established more than 20 gender-neutral bathrooms throughout the campus, including our residence halls, Student Life Center and other key buildings, which can be readily located <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/uhh\/maps.php#interactive\">on our interactive map<\/a>. Protecting the privacy of our faculty, staff and students is a responsibility we take very seriously.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&#8217;m pleased that we&#8217;re taking this long-awaited and necessary action,&rdquo; interim <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Chancellor <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uhwo.hawaii.edu\/about-us\/chancellors-office\/\">Doris Ching<\/a><\/strong> said. &ldquo;By providing gender-neutral restrooms, we hope that all persons will feel safer in every part of the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> campus at all times.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Upholding legal rights<\/h2>\n<p>On May 13, 2016, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education released, under Title <abbr title=\"nine\">IX<\/abbr> of the Education Amendments of 1972, a &ldquo;Dear Colleague Letter&rdquo; relating to the legal rights of transgender students in schools and universities receiving federal funding. The communication stated that students should have the right to use restrooms that match their gender identities.<\/p>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> had already started policy work in this area well before the letter was issued.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All-gender restrooms can be essential for transgender and gender-non-conforming students who don&#8217;t feel comfortable in sex-segregated facilities,&rdquo; said <abbr>LGBTQ&#43;<\/abbr> Center Director <strong>Camaron Miyamoto<\/strong>. &ldquo;In addition, their use is ideal for <abbr>ADA<\/abbr> access, caregivers, parents with children and anyone who might require some additional space and privacy that cannot be provided within a restroom with multiple stalls.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The all-gender restrooms on the M&#257;noa campus are located in Architecture Building 315; the Dole Street Offices; Gartley Hall 11; Hamilton Library 303A and 303B; Holmes Hall 271, 371 and 471; and Webster 401A. <a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/campusmap\/pdf\/UHM-all-gender-restrooms-map.pdf\">View the M&#257;noa campus map<\/a> (<small>PDF<\/small>).<\/p>\n<p>For links to <abbr>UH<\/abbr> Hilo&#8217;s gender-neutral restrooms, see the <a href=\"https:\/\/hilo.hawaii.edu\/eeoaa\/documents\/unisex_restroom_location_map_final.pdf\">campus map<\/a> (<small><abbr>PDF<\/abbr><\/small>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each all-gender restroom is a lockable, single-stall and provides both <abbr title=\"Americans with Disabilities Act\">ADA<\/abbr> accessibility and privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":48792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[690,14,9,947,59,56],"class_list":["post-48664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-lgbtq","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/system-all-gender-restroom-f.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48664"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82395,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48664\/revisions\/82395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}