SLCC introduces new gender-inclusive restroom signage following last year’s pilot

After a pilot in September, Salt Lake Community College implemented the next iteration of its gender-inclusive restroom signage program last month. Currently, the new restroom signage is only on display at the Taylorsville Redwood Student Center.

The new signage displays two rows of multicolored diamonds, at the top and bottom, alongside text that reads: “All are welcome to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity and expression.” The previous signage was green and displayed three circles – which read “body,” “mind” and “spirit,” and accompanied matching graphics.

The reason for removal of those graphics was to provide clearer understanding of the signage’s intent, according to Ryan Thoroman, a member of the college’s Queer Employee Association and consultant on the new signage.

“We wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t just about gender identity but [also] gender expression, because that is an important distinction to make,” Thoroman said.

Human Rights Campaign – a nonprofit dedicated to LGBTQ+ activism and awareness – describes “gender identity” as an individual’s internal experience of gender, and “gender expression” as the outward expression of gender in the form of behavior, clothing and body characteristics.

The new signage represents a step forward for Peter Moosman, resource coordinator for SLCC’s Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center, who hopes inclusive restrooms become a staple of the college.

“My goal is that every bathroom at this institution has some signage like that,” Moosman said.

According to Moosman, members of the college’s Queer Student and Queer Employee associations both consulted the updates seen on the new signage. The initial design, Thoroman said, received some criticism over the green circle appearing at times like a warning sign.

“Ultimately, the purpose of signage is to have it be understood by students, and I think this iteration they’ve come up with accomplishes that quite well,” Thoroman said.

The Next Step

Timothy Davis, director of the Thayne Center at SLCC, said feedback from students about the updated signage has been extremely positive thus far.

He added that SLCCSA President Lindsay Simons is also consulting members of the Faculty Senate and Staff Association about the next steps for the signage initiative.

“Inclusion of those governing bodies is essential for possible expansion,” Davis said.

The college continues to work on plans to renovate an existing restroom at SLCC into an all-gender space after it was unable to include an all-gender restroom as part of renovations to the Applied Technologies building during the spring 2022 semester, citing Utah building codes.

Thoroman said while existing building code still presents an obstacle to creating an all-gender restroom at SLCC, plans are in the works for the renovation to comply with current building codes while also creating an environment where all students feel welcome to use the restroom.

“Some of the designs may require renovating multiple restrooms and having signage indicating each restrooms for either men or women until the code is updated,” Thoroman said, adding that both restrooms could have their signage updated to be gender inclusive.

SLCC officials have not yet announced a location for this first-of-its-kind restroom at the college, but Thoroman said the most likely location would be at the Taylorsville Redwood Student Center.

Moosman hopes that if administration can utilize the all-gender bathroom design, they’ll become more confident in the program.

“I’m hoping … that they’ll see it’s not a problem and start implementing it throughout the institution,” Moosman said.

The committee working on the design for the all-gender restroom held their final workshop on Dec. 14 with plans to release further details about the inclusive restroom project later this year.