Jay Allan was left feeling humiliated and dehumanized after an incident at the downtown Sudbury transit terminal on Dec. 1 when a security guard refused to allow him to use the women's washroom.
And now he's considering filing a human rights complaint against the security company in charge of keeping the city's downtown transit terminal safe.
Allan is a pre-op transgender man who identifies as male, and was at the downtown transit terminal at around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1. He needed to use the washroom, but upon entering the men's room found that the facilities couldn't accommodate him.
"There were two people doing drugs, so I waited for them to leave," said Allan. "When it was my turn I walked in and saw that there was no toilet seat."
Allan asked a G4S security guard if it was possible to put a toilet seat in the stall, but was told that homeless people keep stealing them. He then asked if he would be able to use the women's washroom, "because I can't, you know, aim," said Allan in a message to Sudbury.com.
"I really don't care what bathroom I use, (but) we have rights as transgender individuals if we don't feel safe we can go into the assigned bathroom. The security guard took it upon herself and said no, (even after) I told her that I was pre-op."
The security guard told Jay that he wasn't allowed to use the women's washroom, so he returned to the men's room with no toilet seat.
"After that I went back to the security guard and asked, 'can we get a gender neutral bathroom in here?' and they told me no," said Allan. "I asked what about the toilet seat and she said they've requested a toilet seat a couple of times but haven't heard anything back."
While a gender-neutral bathroom could have helped prevent this situation, TG Innerselves education manager Vincent Bolt explains that it's the duty of those in positions of authority to accommodate people when it comes to washrooms.
"It wouldn't have been hard for the security guard to knock on the door of the women's washroom to find out if anyone was in there and if there was no one in there, guard the door while (Jay) used it," said Bolt.
"But if nobody is given any training on how to accommodate then they have no idea what to do when these situations come up."
Bolt said this is more of an educational matter, where people aren't familiar with the process when dealing with a transgender person who needs to use a washroom.
"I think that's at the root of this issue, where here's a situation that a security guard has never had to think about being in," said Bolt. "It goes beyond just accommodating trans people. What happens if somebody who has a disability requires a stall and there's no toilet seat? Is a security guard going to tell someone who needs a toilet seat to use the washroom that they're not allowed?"
Allan took it upon himself to get in contact with the city and spoke with Brendan Adair, manager of security and bylaw services, who told Jay that he wasn't aware of the issue of the toilet seats being stolen from the downtown transit terminal washroom.
"He called me back and apologized, but it was just the remarks made by the security guard saying that they can't lock down the bathrooms because homeless people steal the toilet seats, and telling me that legally she couldn't let me use the female washroom because I identify as male," said Allan.
Adair told Sudbury.com that he wasn't happy to hear about Allan's interaction with the security guard at the downtown transit terminal. Without excusing the guard's response to Allan's request, Adair said the downtown transit terminal — which has become a focal point for common issues with downtown: drug use, homelessness and mental health issues — is a challenging work environment.
“We weren't happy with the the level of customer service that was provided and we took immediate action,” said Adair in an interview with Sudbury.com. “They've got a very, very difficult job down there. Unfortunately, in this case the wrong decision was made."
While no indication was made by the city that there is any intention of having a gender-neutral washroom at the downtown transit terminal, Allan says that he was told by Adair that the entire situation that he went through amounted to poor customer service.
"My main concern was the toilet seat, and (Brendan) told me that this was unacceptable and was unsatisfactory customer service for how the security guard treated me and the fact that there was no toilet seat for more than a few hours," said Allan. "I don't know exactly what's going to happen with the security guard, but Brendan told me that something was going to get done."
Ontario's building code was ammended recently and includes specifications that any new building needs to have at least one all-gender washroom every three floors, and any public building that undergoes any major renovations to their washrooms has to include an all-gender washroom every three floors.
"When malls or bus stations are doing renovations they should be following the current building code and including an all-gender washroom that is accessible," said Bolt.
This was the first time that Jay has experienced anything like this at the downtown transit terminal, but said that when a similar situation arose at a Greyhound bus terminal in Toronto there was no issue with him using the women's washroom.
"I was at the terminal and both stalls were occupied, so I went into the women's washroom and no one said anything," said Allan. "I will be filing a human rights complaint against G4S."
The bottom line, according to Bolt, is that there needs to be more education and training done on this matter, in addition to having more all-gender washrooms made available in public places.
"I think people get caught up in thinking that there aren't enough people to make these washrooms, but it's not a transgender washroom, it's a washroom for anyone who would benefit from having the additional privacy and space that's afforded with an accessible, single person washroom," said Bolt.
"There are just so many scenarios that come up when we discuss this. A person should be able to use the washroom that they feel most comfortable using."
