Utah's Republican-dominated House on Friday passed a sweeping proposal that would bar transgender people who match their gender identity from restrooms and locker rooms in taxpayer-funded buildings, just three months from the start. Days later, the bill was sent to the state's Republican-controlled Senate for consideration. A look at the session.
House Bill 257 This law allows people in government buildings, correctional facilities, and domestic violence shelters to be given a gender designation different from the gender they were assigned at birth unless they undergo transition-related surgery and legally correct their gender on their birth certificate. The purpose is to prohibit individuals from using the facility.
The proposal calls for new government buildings to have single-person toilets and changing rooms, while existing buildings will be evaluated for “potential renovations or modifications” to improve privacy. need to be investigated.
Utah House of Representatives passed the bill 52-17 on Friday. Three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the bill.
If the bill passes, Utah would become the third state to introduce explicit restrictions on transgender bathroom use in non-school buildings. A Florida law passed last year prohibits transgender people from using facilities consistent with their gender identity in all government-owned buildings, and a North Dakota law restricts the use of restrooms in correctional facilities. There is.
At least seven states have laws in place that prohibit transgender people from using restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity in K-12 schools.
The bill's lead House sponsor, Rep. Kela Birkeland, R-Utah, argued this week that the measure is needed to increase privacy and protect women and children from “bad guys.”
“This bill doesn't target anyone in particular,” Berkland said Friday. “Always ensure your privacy.”
Birkeland, who spearheaded a successful legislative effort to ban transgender women and girls from girls' school sports teams in the last Congress, said at Wednesday's bill hearing that he had “police reports” to back up his claims. He said that he was unable to submit any documents. Transgender people were behaving inappropriately in public restrooms.
One transgender teenager testifying before a state House committee on Wednesday reminded lawmakers that statistically transgender people are more likely to be sexually assaulted than cisgender people. 2021 Williams Institute Report We found that transgender people are four times more likely to be victims of violent crime than cisgender people.
Other opponents of the bill say it could exacerbate prejudice and violence against already vulnerable people.
“We remain deeply concerned that the proposed bill would put transgender Utahns at risk in public restrooms,” Equality Utah, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said Friday. As mentioned in the article. Post to Xformerly Twitter.
If passed, House Bill 257 would also amend state law with a strict interpretation of gender, legally defining a woman as “a general type of individual whose biological reproductive system functions to produce eggs.” I will do it. As “an individual whose biological reproductive system is of a general type that functions to fertilize a woman's eggs.”
Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and Tennessee have similar laws, which LGBTQ rights groups say broadly allow discrimination against transgender people.
In a statement after Friday's vote, Utah Democratic Party Chair Diane Lewis called the passage of House Bill 257 “a shameful and discriminatory attack on an already extremely marginalized and vulnerable community.”
But Democrats largely agree with the bill's provisions that call for codifying Title IX protections for boys and girls in high school sports in Utah law.
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