To whom it may concern,

It has come to our attention that Millburn High School’s administration has finally implemented gender neutral restrooms. To be very clear, we fully endorse that effort and in fact, believe that it should have occurred a long time ago. Actually having multiple bathrooms that are safe for transgender, non binary, and gender non-conforming students to use without the tiring and time-consuming trek to the nurse’s office is phenomenal. 

However, the administration saw fit to consult the Gender and Sexuality Alliance on the best wording for the signage of these bathrooms, and then promptly ignored every suggestion, making signs that infantilize transgender identities and make the gender neutral bathrooms both embarrassing and potentially dangerous for the very students they are designed to protect. 

The proposed sign is shown on the left side of the banner image.

It reads “whatever” in a flowing font and then “just wash your hands.” The sign also includes silhouettes of the traditional female bathroom symbol, an alien, the outdated “unisex” bathroom symbol, the disabled symbol, and the traditional male bathroom symbol. The sign also lacks ADA compliant braille. The use of this wording and these symbols is misrepsentative of transgender, non binary, and gender non-conforming people, as well as being unnecessary, gendering a neutral space, and overall just poor design. 

Many gender neutral bathroom signs have issues, but this sign specifically fails in every way that it possibly could. Gender neutral bathroom signs that include the male and female bathroom symbols or the half-dress half-pants design that is the combination of those symbols are an inherent contradiction of gender neutrality. Having any kind of symbol that supposedly represents what the people using a neutral space look like is a very poor choice, but the very direct enforcement of the gender binary and western gender roles is a disheartening and disappointing choice. Additionally, having non-human symbols in a symbolic list of who uses gender neutral bathrooms is inexcusable. Non-binary and transgender people are not aliens. We are not robots. We are not fantasy creatures. We are very real, very human, and are belittled and dehumanized by bathroom signs that imply that there is male, female, and whatever those other ones are.

 This is also the problem with the wording on the sign. We are not “whatever”. Referring to the people who most benefit and are most likely to use gender neutral bathrooms (trans, non binary, and gender non-conforming people) as “whatever” and including a ridiculous saying that you would never put on a bathroom designed primarily for cisgender people is unnecessary and simply ridiculous. It is not beneficial to gender expansive students to have a joke for a bathroom sign. There is no reason that a gender neutral bathroom should have a sign that says anything other than “gender neutral” or “all genders” (this includes “unisex,” an outdated term).

The lineup of the gendered symbols in this design is also a clear misrepresentation of gender expansiveness. The linear spectrum created seems to imply that the genders that use the gender neutral bathroom fall on a spectrum from female to alien to half and half to disabled to male. The gender spectrum is more complicated than a line. Non binary is not limited to complete androgyny, half-male, half-female. Trans people are humans, not fantasy creatures, dinosaurs, aliens, robots, or anything else. There is nothing wrong with the symbol indicating that there are ADA-designated accessible stalls, but it is very weird to have “disabled” in your lineup of “genders”. Even if that is not the intention, the design is very off-putting. This is in no way a representation of how expansive genders function and it is unhelpful to the needs of trans people to symbolically police what you believe gender expansive people look like. Again, even if unintended, the implications of this design do not represent gender neutrality.

This sign, seemingly designed with quirkiness and the designer’s satisfaction at feeling woke prioritized over the needs of gender expansive students, is poorly designed and could even limit the willingness of people who benefit from gender neutral bathrooms to actually use them. While the contentedness of cisgender people is not the end goal of transgender liberation, it is possible that this sign could easily lead to students making fun of the existence and needs of trans people. For example, students could be asked if they were aliens for using the bathroom if that sign was present or it could confuse people’s understanding of their trans peers. Miseducation and confusion promoted by the nonsense of the sign could lead to further harassment of gender expansive students who are already very vulnerable to bullying and harassment. Additionally, because of the issues with the sign, it could be embarrassing or dehumanizing for people to use the gender neutral bathrooms. None of these would be an issue if minimalist and gender-symbol free signs are used.

Simple signage that just denotes that gender neutral bathrooms can be used by anyone is the clear solution to every issue with the proposed design. A gender neutral bathroom will serve its function without a quirky, fake-woke sign that does more harm than good. Bathroom signs are very easy to do right and the solution to potentially harmful signs is just as easy.

Alternatives that are much preferred by transgender and gender non conforming students are shown on the right side of the banner image. Additionally, the following links are to websites that sell such signs:

• https://adasignfactory.com/ALL-GENDER-ACCESSIBLE-RESTROOM?gclid=Cj0KCQjwk4yGBhDQARIsACGfAetcLzMilsmDgGhM5jQb_Kt-Z9b4CUsCuHESosnPjpzHOInVDDh9r_IaArHZEALw_wcB
•  https://www.mydoorsign.com/all-gender-restroom-sign-with-braille/sku-se-6065?engine=googlebase&keyword=&skuid=SE-6065-TT-BR-4x8&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk4yGBhDQARIsACGfAesdvV5_Bku8Z6W7JuVQDGYtolopx5hHEoJ32PTtFW7GswhZJHQh6uIaAildEALw_wcB
• https://www.mydoorsign.com/all-gender-isa-restroom-braille-toilet-symbol-sign/sku-se-6060?engine=googlebase&keyword=&skuid=SE-6060-SB-9x9-D1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk4yGBhDQARIsACGfAetQ782Oron7J0h7s-mEegrDKV4kYftfZBXlj1RnMHvps-ZveLfyyeoaAj5ZEALw_wcB 

Please do not put up the proposed signs for the gender neutral bathrooms. Do not hinder the progress made by the creation of gender neutral and highly important spaces with poorly thought out and offensive signs. 

The following members of the Millburn High School community and our friends and family support the proposal to change the proposed design for the gender neutral bathroom sign to something like the above that is approved by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance: