Changing the World One Bathroom at a Time

To whom it may concern,

Hello, my name is Jared Smith. I am a graduate student at the University of Dayton, an LGBT advocate and a Noodles & Company employee. I’m contacting you today with the support of our general manager, Diane, regarding making a change with the restrooms at our location (Noodles and Co. 11 Greene Blvd. Beavercreek OH, 45432). 

AN OPPORTUNITY:

            The way our restrooms are currently set up is that we have two gendered single stall accessible restroom.  The reason I am approaching the company today is to remove the gendered restroom signs and replace them with non-gendered signs. I would also like to add one waste basket with a lid to the old men’s room. This would make the facilities completely equal, and thus more accessible to everyone and specifically to transgendered individuals and those whom do not identify along the gender binary. In addition to changing our restrooms which will be pretty easy I suggest we keep in mind gender-neutral restrooms when opening new locations.

WHY WE SHOULD DO THIS:

- This change increases accessibility of our restrooms to all people and will allow shorter wait times and easier access for cleaning and maintenance. It also makes it easier for parents to take their children to the restroom without having to worry about taking them into the “wrong restroom”.

-Dayton, Ohio has a very strong LGBT community. The city placed 1st in the Advocate’s 2015 Most LGBT friendly cities in the country. Dayton is a thriving bastion for LGBT people in Ohio with many legal protections for LGBT individuals that many other cities in the state do not offer. Due to the high volume of LGBT individuals and the city-wide stance of support, showing our support as a company via this small gesture could, in my opinion, boost sales significantly if we marketed it correctly and to the right organizations. It could also get us very positive press attention if we so desired.

- The Noodles & Co. location in question has several LGBT employees including a few whom do not identify on the binary gender spectrum. And it has already been expressed at least once that the current restrooms cause discomfort to at least one employee.

- Most social scientists agree that in the future US restrooms will for the most part be single stalled and non-gendered.  In other words, more than likely the company will have to make this change at some point soon in the future anyway.  Since we already have the facilities required we may as well be ahead of the curve and reap the good PR that comes with making the change.

COST

- Mydoorsign.com has All-Gender Restroom signs in 15 different colors with tactile-touch braille for $14.45 each. ($28.90) total.

- Google shop has waste baskets with lids for $5.00

-Estimated total including shipping and tax $45.00.  As this is a minority issue we could very likely crowd-fund the money.

PUTTING MYTHS TO REST

Let’s go ahead and address the frequent worries which surround non-gendered bathrooms

1-      Non-gendered restrooms will be harder to keep clean. False: The exact same amount of people will still be using the restrooms. The fact that we can now still have an available restroom to guests while cleaning the other actually means we would have more opportunity to clean the restrooms and be less pressed for time during cleaning.

2-      Non-gendered restrooms will lead to sexual harassment, rape, and violations of personal privacy. False: These are single-stalled rooms with a lock. Therefore privacy will always be intact and in control of the user of the restroom.

3-      Non- gendered restrooms will confuse the children. False: There is some pretty significant research to suggest that children’s gender rigidity comes from our institutional need to engender non-gendered things (like restrooms).  Non-gendered restrooms actually combat this problem. (for more information on this topic I suggest Delusions of Gender By Cordelia Fine)  

Thank you for your time.  I’ll be awaiting your reply. For any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me either at my email address or my cell.

Regards,

Jared Smith