Jedburgh Grammar Campus in Scotland has come under attack for allowing students to choose which bathroom they want to use with reports of gross acts being carried out by males in the restrooms.

Galashiels and District councillor Harry Scott lodged a motion for more consultation before installing unisex toilets at the school.

Mr Scott said: “I appreciate the sensitivities around this issue. All young people and adults need to feel safe and comfortable in their surroundings and I understand the need to consider minority groupings, which is one of the drivers of installing gender-neutral facilities. 

"Young girls going through certain changes in their life are entitled to extra privacy as far as toilet facilities are concerned. They should not have to share with teenage boys or men.”

Mr Scott went on to claim that “there have been instances of boys waving sanitary products like flags and urinating in sanitary bins.”

He also reported that some girls refuse to use the unisex toilets.

He raised the question of why not three toilets, male, female and gender-neutral, to ensure all students are accommodated for and feel safe.

The motion was seconded by Selkirkshire councillor Caroline Cochrane, who added: “It seems to be that unisex toilets in new buildings are being presented as a done deal and as an anti-bullying and inclusion measure. This puts anyone objecting to it in a difficult position. 

"I would not feel comfortable sharing a bathroom with male colleagues and as a child I would have completely avoided a facility like this.

“During a 2019 consultation at a school in Wales it was revealed that girls were missing school because of period-shaming, others were going all day without drinking water so they didn’t have to go, and some didn’t use the toilet because they feared sexual harassment.”

Spokeswoman for Binary, Kirralie Smith, said better solutions are needed to protect the students.

“Biology is real. Males and females are different,” she said.

“Young people deserve to have toilets where they feel safe and their dignity and safety is not put at risk. Having male, female and gender-neutral options where possible, is a sensible and practical compromise.”