Making Bathrooms More Accommodating, is an article written by Emily Bazelon. This article was published by The New York Times Magazine in November 2015. With all the new changes in our society, given the LGBT community, the openness of transgender people and the transitioning phase, this article seems to have come right on time.

In the article. Bazelon talks about the up in the air discussion about the gender specific bathroom and shower/locker room laws which arises the three questions that transgenders would want to be addressed. Those questions range from the topic of signage(what do we about it/ do we get rid of female/male restrooms, architectural design-creating multistalls of said bathrooms and most importantly who gets access where (should a person who identifies as male enter into a female restroom or vice versa).

Going to the restroom in public is something that we all find ourselves having to do, but one thing we all have in common is the sense of feeling comfortable when entering into a bathroom and shower/locker room. Which is why this article brings up an important discussion as to how we plan on accommodating transgender people, whether we want to or not. See one thing about this is, as society changes, we tend to want to make everyone feel comfortable, welcomed and most importantly equal, but as we create new laws to form equality, there are other things that must be in line for that to take place. For example: we establish that any said transgender person should be acknowledged as the preferred gender of their choice, but if we acknowledge a male as a female, why would it not be okay for them to enter into a restroom designed for females and of course the same would be considered for a female wanting to be addressed as a male.

This article talks about the concerns of both transgenders and also those who oppose the “Bathroom Ordinance. In Houston, Texas those who opposed this law created television ads and shirts of harassment of women by males in restrooms, which is something that many of those opposers would be afraid of and a good reason for the unwillingness to conform to this new law of accommodation.

In this article, Bazelon speaks about a twelve year old male transitioning into a female, and how she requested to change alongside her peers in the locker room and the denial of that request, which led to a civil rights lawsuit that then resulted in “her” being able to change alongside her peers with a privacy curtain that even others can take privacy in as well.

The article then goes on to discuss how female and male bathroom separation came into existence and the comparison to the “water closets in the Victorian Era” that separated men and women. We talk about women and their desire for female privacy, and camaraderie that we break into when we head to the bathrooms for chatty talk time with other females and why it would be a disturbance to welcome male anatomy into our place of privacy and protection  while we relieve ourselves and socialize in peace.

The article then begins to discuss the oversimplification of transgenders and their biological chromosomal makeup. Here we discuss their desires for inclusion the same way we provide ways for those with disabilities and what would help them feel just as included.

In this article it gave me great insight of how they may feel, especially in the ending of the article where it discusses the twelve year old who states she feels a sense of normality when she’s around other girls in the locker rooms, instead of feeling overexcited as if she is anything different. What sums it up to me is that it’s not them that feel uncomfortable in their bodies but it is us.

The article wraps up by giving two possible accommodations: invisibility-not looking at or speaking to anyone and gender proof- showing physical characteristics that show that you belong there. (pretty genius)