If you walk through the new book locker room and take a turn toward the library, you might see another new element of the school to your right. It’s hard to spot since it’s almost exactly the same as last year, but plastered onto the blue sliding door are the words “student and adult bathroom.” It may not be much of a difference, but it represents part of ASIJ’s effort to become more LGBTQ friendly, a gender-neutral bathroom.

I decided to interview four LGBTQ ASIJ students, three bisexual and one gay, and asked them multiple questions regarding the environment at ASIJ and Japan. I found that the students had strong opinions on whether or not the ASIJ community was accepting, or discriminatory.

On one hand, two students said that “It’s rare to find someone getting discriminated against or demeaned based on their race, religion, gender, or sexuality,” and that “the school is a pretty friendly place for the LGBT people.” And indeed, I’ve never personally seen any outright bullying or physical torment here at ASIJ, and I’ve always believed that it was a safe place in my 9 years here, but apparently it’s not for some people.

The other two students stated that ASIJ students were “implicit homophobes, especially guys,” and one further admitted that there were “many people that chose to call me a fag, and ask why I was in the boy’s locker room.”

So what can ASIJ do to create a more friendly environment for LGBT kids? It’s pretty simple, to do what schools do best: to educate. Although the new bathroom is a good idea, it’s not particularly meaningful to people without gender identity issues.

One suggestion is to educate the students about the LGBT community and include LGBT sex-ed as well as “LGBT history,” as one student put it. Seminars and even small pamphlets could help educate willing parents as well, as another common problem seems to be parents being unaccepting of their LBGT children.

It’s still unclear whether ASIJ is ultimately a discriminatory or accepting environment to LGBT students. However, it’s clear that not only the ASIJ community, but the world as a whole needs a lot of education on the subject.