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Staring. Whispers. Screams.

For some transgender and gay students, these reactions make going to a gender-specific restroom a challenge.

The issue of gender-neutral restrooms arose at the university’s Town Hall Meeting on March 9, when Cynthia Dela Cruz, president of the Queer Straight Alliance and senior health science major, asked Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez where she should go to the restroom, since she was uncomfortable going into the women’s restroom.

Dela Cruz, who is also running for Associated Students Inc. president, said she has experienced ridicule from other women when she used the restroom.

“I had a girl scream at me once,” Dela Cruz said. “I know a couple of (lesbian) girls who had been watched closely as they went into the restroom in the engineering department.”

During the meeting, Patricia Sonntag, director of services to students with disabilities, responded to Dela Cruz by saying Sac State is looking to build more gender-neutral restrooms and the restrooms should be available for use in a few months.

Then when Dela Cruz said that she needed to go to the restroom “now,” President Gonzalez suggested she start walking toward Sacramento Hall, which has two unisex restrooms on the first floor.

Dela Cruz said that when he made this comment, she felt that the issue was not being taken seriously.

“He brushed us (Queer Straight Alliance) off like we do not matter,” Dela Cruz said.

Dela Cruz said since she does not fit the “stereotype of a woman,” she does not feel comfortable going into a women’s restroom.

“I am on campus from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day,” she said. “Going to the restroom is something I have to think about every day.”

The unisex restrooms that are located on campus are for single-person use only, Sonntag said.Along with the unisex restrooms located in Sacramento Hall, an additional one is located at the Art Sculpture Lab, next to the Children’s Center on the south side of campus.

According to Sonntag, these bathrooms were created to meet the California Disability Access Regulation.

According to the regulation, public restrooms must be easily accessible to people with disabilities.

Ron Richardson, the associate vice president of facilities management, said that a unisex restroom will be built in the Library and Lassen Hall this summer.

“Every new building will have a unisex restroom,” Richardson said. According to building regulations, he said, the number of restrooms depends on the building, and how many people use it.

Dela Cruz said she wants to see more unisex restroom accommodations immediately.

Sonntag said she spoke with Facilities Management; Leslie Davis, director of the University Union; and Don Tucker, assistant director of operations in the University Union, who agreed to create two unisex restrooms on the first floor of the Union.

The male restroom near the Java City at the Coffee House will be converted into a unisex restroom, Sonntag said. In addition, she said, a female nursing station will be placed on the first floor.

Sonntag said a unisex restroom will be installed in the Roundhouse by Lassen Hall. Also, a unisex restroom is planned for the Recreation Wellness and Events Center.

Richardson said multi-stall restrooms cannot be removed just to put in a single-stall unisex restroom because construction plans would have to be altered.

Sac State students have mixed opinions on this issue.

“I guess I can understand,” said Tom Brinkhuis, a junior geography major. “Though it would be a big investment. The administration would have to look at the records to see if there were any attacks on people based on their sexual orientation, or if they are just paranoid.”

Ramya Narasimhan, a graduate molecular biology major, said, “I have seen a lot of unisex restrooms in malls, so I don’t see a problem with them being created at universities.”

Dela Cruz said the issue of having gender-neutral restrooms available to gay people is one of her platforms for her campaign for ASI president.

Jamie Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]