Archinect - News

Trans and non-binary architects discuss their challenges within the industry

2023-06-16T15:55:00-04:00

So, yes, architecture has a diversity problem, but the tide is beginning to change. Thanks to out-and-proud architects like [Julia] Oderda, emerging trans designers now have possibility models to look to when navigating situations like coming out or transitioning on the job. Some firms are also taking steps to make their workplace more welcoming to trans people, often in collaboration with trans people who already work there.

Architect Julia Oderda, who came out as a transgender woman professionally in 2018, also provided some insights into her struggle in an interview with the NCARB recently, saying, “A lot of what I did to help pave the way for me — and hopefully for others behind me — but also just to address my own anxieties about the process was a lot of overpreparation.”

The narrative that the existence of trans and non-binary people in an office setting is always contentious ought to be challenged, but their lack of visibility and support from colleagues is troubling, spurring the VCBO Architecture principal towards even more action. “That's one of the reasons I've been as open and vocal as I have been,” she says. “I think we need more people who can be found online to help the next generation.”

Architect, organizer, and facilitator A.L. Hu, who teaches at the Columbia GSAPP as an adjunct assistant professor and is the design initiatives manager at Ascendant Neighborhood Development, shared their...

Supreme Court: Transgender students can use bathroom of choice

2019-05-31T13:28:00-04:00

The Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand a lower court’s ruling that said transgender students in an eastern Pennsylvania school district can use locker rooms and restrooms that match their gender identity.

The United States Supreme Court declined to review a previous decision from the Third Circuit Court in Doe v. Boyertown School District that had upheld the school district's policy of allowing transgender students to use their bathroom of choice.

View of a gender-neutral bathroom at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Image: Wikimedia user Ted Eytan

The Supreme Court has yet to hear a case that directly addresses the rights of transgender individuals.

North Carolina loses AIA conference due to anti-LGBT HB2 bill passage

2016-05-04T13:51:00-04:00

Wilmington officials say the cancellation of an architect business conference due to HB2 will cost the city nearly $1 million. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced Monday it will nix its three-day conference scheduled for later this fall at the Wilmington Convention Center. AIA officials cited the passage of HB2 as the reason for the cancellation.

Being a bigot isn't just ridiculous—it's costly! Supposedly pro-business Republican senators in North Carolina have managed to drive away Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and now the AIA thanks to their passage of HB2, which Towelroad describes as a bill that "bans all local LGBT rights ordinances in the state" while introducing "some of the most draconian anti-trans 'bathroom regulations' in the U.S." Talk about pissing it all away...

For more on the fight for equality:

Mapping transgender-friendly bathrooms in hostile North Carolina

2016-03-31T14:56:00-04:00

For most, the act of going to the bathroom is an unremarkable part of their daily routines. However, for transgender people, fear of harassment makes this small decision a tough obstacle. In North Carolina a recent law has been introduced requiring people to only use bathrooms that match the gender they were assigned at birth. Web designer Emily Waggoner was "devastated" by the new legislation, and decided to do something to help those in need of a safe location to use non-gendered bathrooms.

Waggoner, who grew up in North Carolina although currently lives with her partner in Boston, worried about the safety of her transgender friends back home after the state passed this new, and highly controversial, legislation.

While purporting to be in the interest of "safety," such legislation greatly increases the risk of violence for members of the transgender (and gender non-conforming) community, with little-to-no evidence (or legitimate evidence) that it makes any other group safer. In the vast majority of cases of violence involving the transgender community, trans individuals are the victims – not the other way around.

Even without specific legislation like this, transgender people face much greater risks of physical and sexual violence than those faced by cisgendered individuals. More than one in four trans people have been assaulted in their lifetime – and the rates increase when looking at trans women and trans people of color.

Using Google Maps, Waggoner has created a tool ...