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Designers, administrators and educators alike have the power to create spaces that support the health and wellbeing of all students, especially those who hold marginalized identities. In 2025, 381 bills have been introduced across the country attacking the rights of transgender and nonbinary people, 14 of which are federal. As of writing this, Washington state has 7 bills introduced, 5 of which directly attack the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. While the built environment cannot solve these rampant anti-trans attacks against our kids, it does play a role in upholding binary and oppressive systems. Now more than ever, using data driven design principles and implementing improvements to planning processes can provide safer, more inclusive environments.

Join Mithun partner Elizabeth Hearn and associate K Kaczmarek for “Spaces for All: Gender Inclusive Design Beyond Bathrooms,” a discussion on the history of the movement for trans-exclusionary spaces and how this directly impacts K-12 education spaces as well as the health, safety and wellbeing of all students. Presenters will specifically center the voices of transgender, nonbinary, gender nonconforming and queer communities and touch on topics such as building for physical safety, decentering binary ideas of gender in space, and opportunities for intervention in conventional design processes. By grounding design solutions in research through surveys, interviews and historical data, the session provides actionable perspective into how to design beyond the binary.

The Bush School head of school Percy Abram, Ph.D. will co-present this session.

Date Posted: 05.15.2025