Unisex Toilets for New Glasgow Primary Schools in Case Children Are 'Confused about Their Gender'

Newly built primary schools in Glasgow will have just one set of bathroom facilities for both boys and girls in a move the city’s Education Services say “assists in the LGBT agenda”.

There will be no separate lavatories for boys and girls in three new primary schools. Council bosses claim unisex toilets provide a more comfortable experience for LGBT children, boost cleanliness, and reduce bullying, bad behaviour, and costs, reports The Herald.

“Bullying is reduced, behaviour is improved, no graffiti, no soggy bombs on the ceilings,” said Estate Programme Manager for Education Services, David McEwan.

“It also assists in the LGBT agenda because if we have children even in primary school who are confused about their gender and worry, ‘Do I go to the girl’s toilet or the boy’s toilet?’ – well, it doesn’t matter,” he added.

Mr. McEwan said if there are children who don’t want to use the mixed bathrooms, each floor of the school will have an accessible toilet for people with disabilities.

Pointing out that schools “cost £3,000 a sq metre”, he added the unisex facilities are space-saving and ensure the council gets “absolute bang for [its] buck”.

The move has been questioned by parents, however, with Malcolm Balfour, SNP councillor for Drumchapel and Anniesland, reporting he’s been approached by people with “serious concerns”.

He said: “In Scandinavian countries they do this quite successfully but this is the first primary school in Glasgow.

“I can see that it teaches kids it doesn’t matter what their gender is. A girl who feels trapped in a boy’s body and a boy who feels trapped in a girl’s body might feel embarrassed to be going into the ‘wrong’ toilets.

“But girls mature more quickly than boys and they start to develop towards the end of primary school and they need their privacy.

“Parents feel they should have been consulted first.”

In a letter to the council, objector Joyce McCann raised concerns about pupils sharing toilets if their religion doesn’t allow it. Allan Walker urged Glasgow City Council to produce evidence for the claim that same-sex toilets reduce bullying.

Last year, it was revealed that four-year-old infants in Brighton are being asked to “choose” the gender they “identify” with before they even start school.

In 2013, Brighton & Hove City Council launched a “Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit”, encouraging schools and parents to “support transgender and gender questioning” children, which “may include taking hormones and or having gender reassignment surgeries”.