Portage Collegiate Institute will have some gender-neutral washrooms come this September.
The change was sparked by a student-led initiative at the school.
Ruth Mulligan, a teacher at the school, said she thinks the move makes sense.
“It makes people feel safer. In every school, there’s kids who are transitioning, and therefore they don’t have to be uncomfortable about that one part of their life," said Mulligan, who is also with the Manitoba Teacher’s Society.
The Pallister government has also promised to install a single-person, single-room, gender-neutral washroom at the legislature.
Some universities, including University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba, already have these washrooms.
“If you think about it, we didn’t used to have separated men’s and women’s washrooms and so it doesn’t seem like that far cry to go back to gender-neutral,” said Mulligan. “It just makes things easier for people, not having to choose which washroom it’s safe for them to go into, or which washroom they’re ‘supposed’ to go into.”
