Controversial plans for students to share gender neutral toilets at Brisbane’s newest high school have been scrapped following public backlash.
Fortitude Valley State Secondary College was set to become the first school in Queensland without specifically designed boys’ and girls’ separate bathrooms when it welcomed its first students within weeks.
The Department of Education confirmed last month that all toilets at the $80 million vertical high school would be be unisex, with the exception of two male and female toilets in change room facilities.
But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk raised concerns that boys and girls should have their own toilet facilities and has since overturned the decision.
A bold move to implement unisex toilets at Fortitude Valley State Secondary College has been abandoned weeks before the new Brisbane school welcomed its first students
Education Minister Grace Grace said ‘all necessary arrangements’ had been made to coincide with the reversed decision.
‘This includes a change to make separate, gender-specific toilets for boys and girls available. There are also specific toilets for students with a disability,’ she told The Sunday Mail.
‘Separate boys and girls change rooms with toilets had already been factored into the design of the school.’
The department told Daily Mail Australia that the new facilities met contemporary design standards in relation to accessibility, inclusivity, privacy and safety, when plans were confirmed in December.
The department said the move was in line with modern, state-of-the-art, vertical high schools in other states, including South Australia’s Adelaide Botanic High School.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk overturned the decision following backlash
The original decision to only have unisex toilets sparked national outrage, with education expert and mum Michelle Mitchell describing the move ‘ridiculous’.
‘We already know some really bad things happen to kids in bathroom areas of schools – bullying, sexting, kids recording on mobiles, these things already go on when they’re just within their own sex, and then you’re adding in an extra element,’ she told The Sunday Mail last month.
‘Being a teenager is a really big time of change, for boys and for girls, and kids have a right to feel safe.’
Plans to have unisex toilets at Brisbane’s newest school will not go ahead (stock image)
Opposition education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie feared the ‘very bad’ move could be a ‘recipe for disaster’.
‘I reckon boys and girls need and deserve their own privacy at school,’ Mr Bleijie posted on Facebook at the time.
‘How about instead of this PC rubbish the government spend more time helping our teachers with workload issues, air con our schools, declutter the curriculum, fix the school maintenance backlogs and better support our teachers in regional and remote Queensland. Labor have its priorities all wrong.’
The Facebook post sparked a divided response.
‘These kids are at high school why do we have them sharing the same toilets when so many other aspects of their education needs to be improved. Also young ladies and men need their privacy,’ one person commented.
But many others couldn’t understand the fuss.
Fortitude Valley State Secondary College will now have separate boys and girls facilities
‘Nearly every accessible facility for disabled people is a unisex facility, and, last time I looked, nearly every household, you know where these kids live, has unisex toilet facilities! There are bigger issues than this that deserve attention,’ one person commented.
Schools in Western Australia were urged earlier this year to include ‘gender-neutral toilet options’ and in a bid to stop discrimination against transgender students.
The recommendation from Inclusive Education WA, a specialised resource for schools in the state, aims to create a ‘more inclusive environment’ for transgender and gender diverse students.
Fortitude Valley State Secondary College is the first inner-city state school to be built in Brisbane in over half a century.
The school will welcome its foundation Year 7 students on January 28.
The new school will also push back class times to avoid traffic chaos, with students urged to walk or cycle to school to ease congestion in the inner-city.
The $80 million vertical high school (pictured) will welcome its first students later this month