When the San Francisco International Airport's new Terminal 1 opens, the gender-neutral bathrooms will set the standard for the nation, said Christopher Birch, director of guest experience at SFO.
The $2.4 billion construction of the new Terminal 1, which broke ground in June, gives the airport an opportunity to go "above and beyond" the city ordinance requiring the airport, like all city buildings, to make all one-person bathrooms gender neutral, said Birch in an telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.
According to Birch, some of the newly constructed multi-use bathrooms in Terminal 1, as well as all of the one-person bathrooms, accommodate people who consider themselves genderqueer or gender neutral. Birch said that as far as he knows, no other airport in the U.S. has announced that it would include gender-neutral bathrooms incorporated into the larger, multi use bathrooms.
The SFO decision "gives us the chance to set the standards" said Birch. The airport, like all city buildings, was required to have plans underway to adopt signage for all single-use bathrooms by the end of September. Birch said the airport has such plans underway.
Terminal 1 will open in stages and will be complete by 2024.
This week, SFO announced roadway, curbside, and walkway closures for two years as part of the Terminal 1 construction project. The closures begin Friday, October 21.
Earlier this month, Birch and other team members from SFO and its architecture and design firm, Gensler, met with representatives of the transgender community to get their input on the signage and messaging. The October 7 meeting was coordinated by the LGBT Community Center's Trans Employment Program and Trans:Thrive at the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, which invited people to the two-hour meeting to begin a dialogue on the future all gender restrooms at SFO.
At the meeting, Gensler designer Sarah Szekeresh, showing the attendees numerous symbols and messages that could potentially be used, pointed out that the airport gives visitors their "first impression" of the city. Adopting signs that are easily understood ideally will make "people feel comfortable and included," she said. The symbols should work for people of all ages and from all backgrounds, she explained.
Szekeresh posted about two-dozen proposed symbols and messages. Attendees were asked to rate them by pasting color-coded stickers on the posters. Gensler designers will use the information gathered at the meeting to further refine their proposals to the airport, she said.
Clair Farley, director of economic development at the LGBT center, said in a telephone interview, "We are excited to partner with SFO because the multiuse bathrooms that are gender inclusive could be a model for the rest of the country."
By constructing gender inclusive bathrooms into the new airport design, "anyone can use them so people don't feel forced to use a single stall bathroom," said Farley. "We feel this is an important step forward."