This has been updated a few times since I originally posted it on Tumblr so I figured I’d re-post it along with a new picture. Please keep sending info about gender neutral bathrooms in the Bay Area, and to share with others the importance of equal bathroom access. ALSO! This is for gender neutral bathrooms in the Bay Area. Please feel free to do this for facilities in your area to help folks who can use them.
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To a lot of people, going to the bathroom isn’t really something that requires a lot of deep thought. One simply feels the need to go, finds a bathroom they can use, and go. But if a person has an identity within the trans universe (transgender, transsexual, gender queer etc), the decision making process might be more complicated. I know when I need to go to the bathroom and I’m in a place without a gender accessible bathroom I regularly have to decide whether to choose the one that’s safer but requires me to deny everything I know about myself, or the one that’s closer aligned to my identity but puts me at great risk for being accused of sexual harassment if not worse. No one should ever have to make that decision. In my ideal world, all bathrooms would be gender neutral, but since that won’t happen any time soon, I’ve decided to embark on the project of making note of all the gender neutral bathrooms in the Bay Area. I realize that this is a big task, and that can’t possibly do this alone. This is how you can help if you so choose: when you are in an establishment that has a gender neutral bathroom, simply make note of the name of the establishment, the address, and what it takes to use the facility (does one need to buy anything? Does it have a key? Etc). Obviously, in a time when so many horrible things seem to be happening to trans* folks, there are going tone people who feel that being able to use the bathroom hardly qualifies as a pressing issue. My only reply would be, if a person can’t even take care of such a basic human need of being able to securely relieve oneself, how is one expected fo safely live in the world? I thank you for reading this. For those who choose to help with this project, I’d like to thank you for helping make change happen.
(Also, please feel free to go to -
http://safe2pee.org/new/ for additional resources).
Wicked Grounds 289 8th Street (near Folsom). Bathroom is for customers only. The key is hung on the side wall to the left of the bathroom.
Escape from New York Pizza 508 Castro Street ( btwn 18th and 19th). No key needed. Bathroom is in the back behind the counter and is for customers only.
Castro Country Club 4058 18th Street (btwn Castro & Hartford). Key is at the beverage counter. Walk straight through to the back and ask the barista for the key. Facility is for customers only).
San Francisco LGBT Center 1800 Market Street (near Octavia). Ask the front desk staff for location of the bathroom and for the key.
Simple Pleasures Cafe 3434 Balboa street (near 36th Avenue). No key necessary. Purchase encouraged.
SF Citadel 181 Eddy Street (near Taylor). No key necessary. No key necessary. There two restrooms; one of them has urinals. Both are gender neutral.
Enssaro 366 Grand Ave (btw Perkins & Ellita), Oakland. No key necessary.
Saturn Cafe 2175 Allston Way in Berkeley, and 145 Laurel Street in Santa Cruz. They have two bathrooms that are both gender neutral. No key needed in the Berkeley location.
Athineon 1941 University Ave., Berkeley. No key needed, for (paying) customers. Single toilet and sink.
Eudemonia (Gaming store and internet café) 2154 University Avenue in Berkeley. No key needed, for (paying) customers. Two gender-neutral bathrooms, each with toilet and sink.
Sonoma Coffee Café 2131 Durant Avenue in Berkeley. No key needed, purchase encouraged. Single toilet and sink.
Target 1057 Eastshore Highway, Albany & 1555 40th Street, Emeryville. No key needed. Single stall with changing tables.
Hillsdale Shopping Center 60 31st Avenue, San Mateo. Has a single toilet, sink, and changing table.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea 1365 Park Street, Alameda. Two gender neutral bathrooms, no key or combo.