‘Woke’ gender-neutral toilets should be scrapped says Tory peer

‘What is the justification for making women feel unsafe, where now they feel safe?’ says Lord Lucas

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Gender-neutral bathrooms should be scrapped because they make women feel "uncomfortable", a Conservative peer has claimed.

Speaking at a House of Lords debate on Monday, Lord Lucas argued that single-sex facilities were safer for women and described the unisex lavatories in the Department for Education’s Westminster offices as “deeply unpleasant”.

“What is the justification for making women feel unsafe, where now they feel safe?” the 68-year-old added.

“Some institutions have converted their ladies and gents communal toilet facilities to gender-neutral.

“Others have converted changing rooms similarly. Is this desirable or justified? What research as to people’s needs is it based on? Has anyone – and women in particular – been consulted?”

Lord Lucas went on to argue that the gender-neutral facilities disadvantage women who do not, for reasons of discomfort or religion, “wish to find themselves in an enclosed, unobserved space with men”.

“There are a number of very strange men in this world,” he continued

“I think it entirely reasonable for women to want a separate space.”

The Tory hereditary peer blamed a culture of “wokeness” for the introduction of unisex toilets at places such as the Old Vic theatre in London, which recently converted all of its male and female lavatories to gender-neutral toilets.

The debate was to discuss whether or not at least half of communal facilities in public buildings to be reserved for women only, which is the motion Lord Lucas was arguing for.

But Lord Lucas’s comments have been challenged by LGBT+ chairities, who say gender-neutral toilets provide members of the transgender and non-binary communities with safe and comfortable spaces.

Mermaids, a charity that supports gender variant and transgender youth, told The Independent: “We’re grateful to Lord Lucas for expressing his concern for women and we would ask him to extend that spirit of empathy to the many transgender and non-binary people who are much more comfortable using gender-neutral facilities.

“This is a sensitive and nuanced subject, worthy of sensible discussion and the changes around accommodating all gender identities are new to many people, used to a more binary world. Still, we know from our 25 years of experience how difficult and distressing it can be for gender-diverse people to use single-sex facilities.”

The spokesperson went on to reference the term “trans bladder” that is used by some people to describe the experience of having to wait for many hours or race home in the middle of the day just to use a toilet without feeling unsafe or unwelcome.

“The Equality Act 2010 is there to give everyone the right to live safely, comfortably and with dignity,” they continued. “Acknowledgement of gender diverse people shouldn’t stop at the toilet door.”

A study from the University of California school of law in 2018 showed there was no link between public transgender bathroom access and crimes that occur in bathrooms.

The data were collected for a minimum of two years before a statewide antidiscrimination law took effect in 2016 that meant gender-neutral bathrooms were provided.

Gender neutral toilets have been introduced at a number of institutions across the UK including universities like UAL in the capital, which changed all of its toilets after a succesful campaign by the student's union.