Toronto College Rolls Back Gender-Neutral Bathrooms After Voyeurism Incident
A college in Toronto says it will no longer force all its students to use gender-neutral bathrooms and is, therefore, switching back to exclusively male or exclusively female facilities, after it learned that two women students were filmed by a man using his cellphone while showering.
The Whitney Hall dormitory at University College, part of the University of Toronto, made the decision to roll back the use of gender-neutral bathrooms after two women reported separately last month that they saw a cellphone reach over the shower stall dividers in an attempt to record them, according to The Toronto Star.
Toronto Police are investigating the incidents at the dormitory, which houses about 250 students.
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The dormitory will leave only some gender-neutral bathrooms for those who want them, and set aside all others to be exclusively male or exclusively female, according to Melinda Scott, the dean of students at University College.
"The purpose of this temporary measure is to provide a safe space for the women who have been directly impacted by the incidents of voyeurism and other students who may feel more comfortable in a single-gender washroom," Scott was quoted as saying. "The UC Residences continue to work in close collaboration with the Community Safety Office and Campus Police to ensure that the residences are a safe space for our students."
Some universities and businesses in the United States have also become gender-neutral to accommodate transgender students and customers.
In August, the Rev. Franklin Graham spoke out against chain store Target's announcement that it would stop separating toys and bedding into boys and girls sections.
"I think Target may be forgetting who has made their stores strong. It's not gender-neutral people out there — it's working American families, fathers and mothers with boys and girls they love. What's next? Are they going to try to make people believe that pink or blue baby showers are politically incorrect?" the evangelical leader wrote in a Facebook post.
"I have news for them and for everyone else — God created two different genders. Jesus said, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female' (Matthew 19:4)," he said, adding, "You can't get any clearer than that."
In February, the University of Vermont officially recognized "neutral" as a "third gender" option for its students and allowed them to be referred to with "gender neutral" pronouns.
Even in Australia, a court ruled in a landmark decision in 2013 that people do not have to be registered as either male or female, and can instead be listed as "non specific" on public records.
