Gender Neutral Bathrooms: Diesel Cafe Leads the Way

On May 22^nd, 2014, the Somerville Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to amend Somerville’s human rights ordinance to include gender identity as a protected class. This got a lot of people thinking about what we can do to make Somerville safer and more welcoming to transgender people. One easy thing to do is to change single-stall bathrooms into gender neutral bathrooms. Transgender people often feel unsafe using multi-stall restrooms, where they may be misgendered and encounter verbal or physical abuse. Having a single stall, gender neutral bathroom means that they can use the bathroom safely, and no one will question their right to use that bathroom.

I interviewed Jess Brasil, the Operations Manager at Diesel Café, Bloc 11 Café, and Forge Baking Company about Diesel Café’s gender neutral bathrooms.

LGBT Liaison Logo

The LGBT Liaison has a new logo! Thanks to the Webmaster for designing this beautiful image that captures the spirit of our office.

hear me OUT

hear me OUT

An Intergenerational Oral History Project for the Somerville LGBT Community

A partnership between the SCOA LGBT Board, Somerville High School GSA, and Tufts University LGBT Center

Somerville LGBT youth and older adults can sign up to participate in a unique intergenerational project that pairs older adults in the Somerville LGBT community with Tufts and Somerville High School Students. In this 7-week program you will develop a partnership with an LGBT member of the Somerville Council on Aging, learn how to capture and record your personal story, gain new insight into the history of the LGBT community in Somerville and Massachusetts, craft interview questions create a specific story, and produce a recording that can be shared with the community at large as an on-going resource.

For more information, please contact Simone Martell at the Somerville Council on Aging at SMartell@somervillema.gov.