ST. LOUIS – A city recreation center is planning to install a gender-neutral restroom as part of a pilot program to explore how to make public recreation centers more welcoming to transgender residents.

But the work seems to be being put on the back burner by the city administration.

A St. Louis University researcher has received a grant to help with construction at the Cherokee Recreation Center on Jefferson Avenue near Benton Park in south St. Louis. Signs have been ordered for the gender-neutral areas and training has been given to the center’s staff. But neither the city nor the mayor’s office know when construction will begin — only that it’s not currently at the top of the city’s list.

“(The city) wants to move these things forward, but they’re doing it very deliberately, and new programs like this are going to take a while,” said Robert Atchisson, spokesman for St. Louis Parks and Recreation. “As far as I know, that’s not on the immediate radar.”

Whitney Linsenmeyer, the SLU professor who won the grant, said this work is critical for transgender populations. Research has shown that transgender people are often less physically active, less likely to use public gyms and are disproportionately affected by mental health issues. Excluding them from facilities like gyms and recreation centers exacerbates these problems, she said.

“The toilets are a really important part of making transgender people feel safe in these spaces,” Linsenmeyer said.

Transgender use of public restrooms has come under fire recently. School boards decide which restrooms transgender students can use. State lawmakers have restricted access to gender-affirming medical care for youth. And less than two weeks ago, a transgender woman using a private stall in the women’s locker room at an Ellisville gym drew public criticism and political attention.

However, St. Louis is working to become a sanctuary city for transgender residents. In May 2023, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones signed an executive order to support transgender people, including by making public spaces more gender-inclusive.

The Cherokee Rec Center is the first municipal recreation center to undergo changes.

Two staff toilets will be converted into gender-neutral changing rooms and toilets, Linsenmeyer said. Separate areas for women and men will remain open.

Cherokee personnel began training in the spring – “Trans 101,” as Linsenmeyer called it.

“They realize this is important work and they know they’re going to be asked some difficult questions and they want to be able to answer them well,” she said.

Jordan Braxton, vice president of development and fundraising for the parent support group TransParent and a longtime LGBTQ+ activist and educator in St. Louis, said staff “at Cherokee Rec Center have such a positive attitude toward these changes — it’s amazing.”

Following Cherokee, the city’s other six recreation centers will go through the same process to become more gender-equitable, which will include bathrooms/locker rooms, signage and staff training, among other things.

“This sets the stage to show that gender affirmation is neither difficult nor scary,” said Susan Halla, TransParent’s board chair. “It’s definitely been a bright spot in the last few years. It’s definitely made me proud to live in this city.”

The city, however, has no estimate of when that work will begin, although Linsenmeyer’s research grant, funded by Washington University’s Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program, expires in February 2025.

“There’s a process – you have to pay attention to all the details,” said Chris Geden, a member of a committee in Cherokee that’s helping with the restroom changes. “It’s up to the city of St. Louis to create and draft those contracts.”

Gilberto Pinela, a member of the mayor’s LGBTQIA Advisory Council and director of the city’s Office for New Americans, said trans-inclusive work is still “on schedule.”

“The worst thing that can happen is that the people who use this recreation center don’t understand what’s going on, and then there could be conflict,” Pinela said. “We want to approach things consciously and appropriately.”