The Edwardsville School District in Illinois approved plans to construct a gender-neutral bathroom at a high school in the district complete with 18 stalls and with an estimated cost of $6.8 million.
On Monday, the district board voted 5-2 to approve the proposal and estimated that the construction would be completed by the beginning of the 2025 school year. The 18 stalls would be entirely enclosed from floor to ceiling and include lights to show which stall is locked and which is open. Both males and females would be permitted to use the restroom, which the district says will be supervised during “high traffic” times of the school day. A rendering of the proposed final project also shows a large handwashing station located in the center of the room.
The board did, however, decide to send the project back to bidding after a board member’s construction company was permitted to bid on the initial building proposal.
Parents raised concerns about the project at the district’s public meeting on Monday and urged the board to reject the plans to construct the new restroom.
“I am very upset that our society is even considering these things,” Melissa Thomas, a mother of five children who attend school in the district said.
An Edwardsville District 7 father, Keith St. Pierre, also said, “You give a boy an opportunity like this — they already have issues at the high school with boys and girls trying to attend the same bathroom together for reasons that my 11-year-old doesn’t need to talk about or hear about at this point in time.”
The district’s Superintendent Patrick Shelton said that the district simply wanted to create a private, safe space for each student, according to a local outlet.
“The bathrooms that are in question have been some of the most talked-about spaces in the high school from a safety perspective and a functionality, usability. So, we decided that was a great time to look at some other options,” Shelton said.
One Edwardsville High student, a female who identifies as a transgender male, also spoke at the meeting and said that she has “rarely ever felt sale in a public restroom.”
Another speaker called the gender-neutral restroom plans an “excellent opportunity to validate [transgender students] as they are,” adding, “I commend the board on moving forward with this.”
After the popular X (formerly Twitter) account Libs of TikTok shared the news with followers, comments on the district’s social media became flooded with outraged parents and residents who were appalled by the board’s decision. Many X users called the move “shameful” and encouraged others to remove their children from the district.
