For now, Turkey's college bathrooms remain gender-specific
There is strong student support for LGBTQ groups’ demands for gender-neutral bathrooms at one of Turkey’s best public colleges, but administrative and public reaction reveals deep-rooted transphobia from the least-expected corner of Turkish society.
It was a couple of years ago when one of my students suggested there should be no gender category on any official forms. My courageous student said, “Some days I feel like a man; some days a woman. Your categories aren't sufficient for me.”
"Trans" is an umbrella term that covers several different identities beyond the common binary definitions. People can define themselves as neither male nor female, or as a combination of both at times.
The transgender rights movement is shaking our common truths and norms.
Are you happy to use the bathrooms that match your “biological gender” assigned at the time of birth? All around the world, demands for gender-neutral bathrooms are leading to change. For example, pioneer cities in California have passed laws requiring single bathrooms to be declared gender neutral. Colleges, as centers of freedom of expression for young people, followed suit in different cities throughout the Western world.
