Oregon's schools to provide tampon, pad dispensers in male and female bathrooms

AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer

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Oregon schools will soon be required to provide period products in both boys' and girls’ restrooms.  

Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the Menstrual Dignity Act into law in 2021, which required all schools, elementary, middle, and high schools, to provide menstruation products in both girls' and boys' bathrooms with instructions on how to use them.

The Portland Public School (PPS) board has begun a phased approach to the legislation during the 2021-2022 school year by placing free menstrual products in all-gender bathrooms in comprehensive high schools.

In a statement, PPS said that by the start of the next school year (2022-2023), all bathrooms, even male bathrooms, will include the products and instructions.

The Governor of Oregon passed the Menstrual Dignity Act which requires all schools (elementary, middle, & high) starting next year place period products in all bathrooms (boys and girls) with instructions on how to use it. pic.twitter.com/8CMejAG5JH

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 1, 2022

The school district said it has already ordered 500 dispensers for the tampons and pads to ensure “timely compliance” with the Menstrual Dignity Act.

The PPS has also pledged to provide students, both boys and girls in elementary and middle school with educational lessons on menstrual health.

Beyond providing products, this program reminds us that all PPS schools must provide education on growth, development, and puberty that includes menstrual health," the school system says in the statement, “Additionally, the Health and Adapted/Physical Education team is providing all K-12 schools with basic lessons around the four pillars of Menstrual Dignity.”

Those mentioned four pillars include “Privacy, Inclusivity, Access, and Education,” according to PPS, and “students of all genders and all abilities” who will be “taught without shame.”

The “inclusivity” section of the legislation panders to those who even identify as “non-binary” and “two-spirit,” normalizing unconventional gender identities.

The press release stated the following:

Inclusivity means including, affirming, and honoring differences in how communities learn about, access, and make decisions about health. This means that transgender, intersex, non-binary, and two spirit students need to be affirmed in their access to products.