The Lyceum of the Philippines University approved a request to install two gender neutral restrooms, allowing students, regardless of gender identity and expression, to use it. The request was made by LPU Kasarian, a student organization promoting gender equality.
LPU Kasarian founding president Dencio Arcadio announced the news on Facebook, with photos of the approved request.
In the letter, the group states, “In accordance to one of the LPU Kasarian’s missions to proactively inculcate the holistic necessity of LGBT’s Human and Civil Rights in the minds of Lyceans and the entire society by providing programs, events and activities, the LPU Kasarian would like to ask your good office to allot gender neutral comfort rooms in the university.”
The letter adds that the move is done to comply with the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) memorandum on setting “the minimum standards to promote gender-sensitive and rights-based policies, curricula, instructional materials in all public and private higher education institutions in the country.”
LPU Kasarian even proposed a signage, which includes the standard male and female symbols used in public restrooms, as well as a third symbol that combines the two.
The approved gender neutral restrooms will be installed in the ground and third floor of the university.
This is not the first time that gender neutral restrooms have been installed in the Philippines. In 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) announced that it would build gender neutral restrooms in airports across the Philippines. CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio announced that it is part of the group’s gender awareness development program, which aims to foster gender awareness and sensitivity among employees.
Last September, Ateneo de Davao University set up single restrooms for all genders, in a move that university president Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. calls an attempt to “increase understanding and respect for the human needs and sensitivities of all.”
In the US, a study done by the University of California – Los Angeles’ Williams Institute in 2013 revealed that 68 percent said that they were “told they were in the wrong facility, told to leave the facility, questioned about their gender, ridiculed or made fun of, verbally threatened, or stared at and given strange looks.” The same study said that 9% experienced physical assault.
