Editor:
I want to thank the School District and school trustees for their vision and commitment to inclusivity and progress on the Sunshine Coast.
It feels odd in 2024 to have to say things out loud like the Earth is round, war is bad, and inclusive spaces benefit everyone, but here we are having to say these things.
When curb cuts became the norm in road and sidewalk infrastructure (after many years of advocacy from Second World War veterans and other disability rights activists), everyone realized the benefits. Curb cuts didn’t just impact wheelchair users but also parents pushing strollers, cyclists, and people with other mobility challenges. When we build spaces to include more people, everyone benefits!
The all-user bathrooms won’t just benefit gender-diverse students. They will benefit students with support workers or care aids that are of a different gender than them. It will benefit students who had a fight with their friends and know that group is in the bathroom talking about them. It benefits the students who don’t want to be around negative behaviours often found in private, confined spaces where students congregate, closed off from supervision (like gendered bathrooms and change rooms). It will benefit family members attending high school events with younger siblings of multiple genders!
People have made this topic one of safety, particularly the safety of girls and women. For those advocates, I thank them for wanting to keep girls safe, and I encourage them to open the scope of their advocacy to include girls who they may not be considering, including girls who avoid the gendered bathrooms currently. By giving a third option (having gendered stalls, single-user, and an all-user), the school district is ensuring that no matter your ability, your gender identity, or your preference on where to go to the bathroom on any given day, it is represented.
We all benefit from more inclusion, even students you may not have considered before.
I thank the school trustees and the school district for keeping the bigger picture in mind and considering not only the students in our schools today but all the students who will be here in the future.
Devon Kennedy, Roberts Creek
