Durban’s ICC, an award winning venue recognised globally for a number of firsts in the conferencing arena, has become the only building in the eThekwini Municipality to provide gender neutral toilets.
Officially named the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, after South Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and opened by Nelson Mandela in 1997, the building has always had separate toilet facilities for men and women.
However, those who identify as non-binary (neither male nor female) now have access to gender neutral toilets in the building.
Municipal spokesman Msawakhe Mayisela said: “The decision to have the gender neutral toilets at the ICC was because these toilets cater for people who for many reasons feel uncomfortable using a toilet that is designated for either males or females.”
He said it was such people’s right to have access to a separate facility because Section 10 of the South African Constitution noted that “everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have that dignity respected and protected”.
Mayisela said the city did not have gender neutral toilets anywhere else, but once a decision was made to roll it out elsewhere, it would be communicated.
Childline, a non-profit organisation that works to protect children against all forms of violence and abuse, this week raised safety concerns about the gender neutral toilets.
“While we acknowledge gender diversity, we believe that gender neutral toilets will increase instances of violence. South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world and gender neutral toilets may make a child more susceptible to attacks,” Childline’s acting director Adeshini Naicker said.
Aluta Humbana, who is in charge of advocacy at the Durban Lesbian & Gay Community & Health Centre, said the fear was unwarranted because people had gender neutral toilets in their homes.
“We don’t have male or female toilets in our homes. Even when we have family gatherings everyone uses the same toilet,” said Humbana.
“So, deep in our psyche we are used to non-binary spaces.”
Humbana said in the 1990s South Africa was not ready to abolish apartheid and yet it had to be done because it marginalised certain sectors of the community.
“Similarly with this concept of non-binary or gender neutral spaces, it’s imperative that we also consider aligning what we are doing with our constitution.”
She said it meant the LGBTQI community had to be accommodated irrespective of the challenges that existed because there would always be challenges.
Humbana said the ICC had consulted on the issue widely last year and had sought the input of their organisation especially about the flow of the facility.
Safety was an important aspect of the toilets which had separate cubicles, two entrance and exit points and cameras on the outside just like the other toilets in the ICC.
However, Humbana also warned that, for some, concerns about safety could mask homophobia.
In the municipality’s official eThekwini Weekly Bulletin dated January 31, it writes: “The introduction of gender neutral toilets is an equity and accessibility issue for communities, especially to make toilets more accessible to transgender and gender non-binary attendees. The move has been hailed as a crucial step towards progress in gender inclusion.”
The Independent on Saturday