‘Make all cubicles unisex’
Editor, The News:
Re: ‘Rights conflict’ (Letters, March 29).
I don’t think I have ever seen a single community issue stir up so many people and last so long.
Feelings on both sides seem to run deep.
Transgender people certainly have their rights to use the facilities as they see fit, and people uncomfortable with seeing naked members of the biologically opposite gender in the change room also have their rights.
So, as Linda Meyer correctly asks in her letter, who’s rights take precedence?
In the short term, I don’t have an answer that would satisfy all. But in the long term, the solution is simple and was suggested by a previous writer.
In the plans for the new pool, just eliminate all group change rooms – male, female, and gender neutral.
Instead, have a series of small, individual cubicles with a bench and shower.
A few slightly larger ones for families would also be desirable.
Make all cubicles unisex.
The lockers would be out in a common area.
The toilet rooms would be separate from these cubicles and even they could be unisex, as long as each toilet was separated from the others by full floor to ceiling walls.
The sinks would be common, as I don’t think anyone could really be offended by the sight of the opposite sex washing their hands.
These ideas would require a bit of re-design work for the new pool, but it is certainly early enough in the process to consider it.
Norm Dawson
Pitt Meadows