In an April 11 Northern Star issue, there was a Point/Counterpoint piece on gender-inclusive restrooms. As someone who is trans*, and who researches alongside trans* collegians, I felt compelled to weigh in and clear up a glaring non sequitur shared in the exchange.

The issue of gender-inclusive restrooms must center on increasing human dignity and respect for trans* people, not on the needs and convenience of cisgender—or non-trans*— people. The extreme lack of gender-inclusive restrooms at NIU is a vestige of exclusionary, gender-binary campus design.

The lack of safer restrooms also has potentially deleterious effects for trans* students, faculty and staff, including, but not limited to: the threat or reality of harassment and violence; experiences of gender dysphoria when trans* people must choose a restroom that does not reflect their gender and bladder infections. Furthermore, as Kaylyn Zielinski suggested, gender-inclusive restrooms actually benefit everyone; or, at the very least, they do not deny bathroom access to anyone.

As trans* author Jenny Boylan wrote, “Gender is many things, but one thing it is surely not is a hobby. Being [trans*] is not something you do because it’s clever… .”

Being trans* in a world — and on a campus — that invalidates your humanity by providing inadequate restroom access is made invariably harder when we cannot easily perform simple life tasks like using the bathroom. Faith Mellenthin’s counterpoint that more “traditional men’s and women’s” bathrooms should be built first denies trans* people’s humanity while occluding how gender-inclusive spaces promote liberation for all.