The Claremont Colleges Library is pleased to announce all-gender restrooms will soon be available on the 4th floor of the library.
The Library is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As part of this commitment, we strive to create inclusive physical and virtual spaces where people from all backgrounds and experiences are welcome, safe, and respected. We do this by highlighting the voices and perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups and by ensuring these groups have equitable access to our resources and services. Over the past several semesters we’ve received feedback from some of the very voices we are committed to highlighting. That feedback indicated a lack of equitable access to restrooms in the library.
Despite existing protections based on gender identity, transgender and gender-nonconforming people often experience harassment, intimidation, refusal of access, and in some cases, violence when trying to use public restrooms and other gender-specific facilities consistent with their gender identities. All-gender restrooms are intended to provide alternatives to gender-specific restrooms to help ensure the safety and security of all people regardless of their gender, gender expression, sex, disability, or other identity factors.
While our building code provided challenges to achieving our goal of providing all-gender restrooms, we were able to work in partnership with The Claremont Colleges Services (TCCS) Facilities department and the Queer Resource Center (QRC) to accomplish this mission. Those utilizing the library will soon find all-gender restrooms on the 4th floor of the library.
Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Thanks to Pharalyn Crozier of the Queer Resource Center for her help creating this post.