(AgapePress) - The University of Chicago is mulling over the idea of building more gender-neutral bathrooms on its campus.

Complaints from feminist, homosexual, and transgender groups have prompted school officials to assess whether special bathrooms can be added for those who do not feel comfortable in a gender-specific facility. According to a group called Coalition for a Queer-Safe Campus, men's only and women's only restrooms can be intimidating to some students.

Members of the Feminist Majority, Queers and Associates, and the Center for Gender Studies recently held a panel discussion at the University of Chicago to discuss the so-called "queer-safe campus bathroom initiative."

Peter LaBarbera

But Peter LaBarbera of the Illinois Family Institute calls the push for gender-neutral facilities "lunacy," and his group is hoping to put a stop to it. "We'll be doing everything we can to make sure the University of Chicago doesn't go down this road," LaBarbera says, "but it looks like it's already started."

The pro-family activist is urging the university not to cave in to the demands of the various groups for more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. According to one university official, the school already has nine such facilities and is willing to consider adding more.

LaBarbera says "this latest lunacy" is further evidence of "the silliness that's going on" at the University of Chicago. "The idea that there are no longer two genders, but now there's maybe three, four, five or six may be appropriate for the college campus," he says, "but to everybody else it's just ridiculous."

Despite the contentions of student groups that feel gender-specific restrooms are unsafe, LaBarbera says the traditionally gender-segregated bathrooms pose no actual threat.

© 2003 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend Printer-Friendly Version