Last week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox passed legislation which “prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities- such as locker rooms, shower rooms and other sex-segregated spaces.” Utah residents are able to bypass this legislation if their birth certificate was changed to their current sex after gender affirmation surgery.
The legislation also said that for people on school grounds who are uncomfortable being in larger spaces while using the bathroom they are able to use faculty bathrooms as a way to “still feel comfortable and safe.”
After signing the bill, Cox said in a statement, “We want public facilities that are safe and accommodating for everyone and this bill increases privacy protections for all.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, an organization that works to defend individual rights and liberties, which opposed the legislation, said in a statement: “This bill perpetuates discrimination, needlessly imposes barriers to the everyday needs of people in Utah, and risks harmful and discriminatory enforcement against transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.” Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Utah) said the legislation is meant to protect women and children but in a 2021 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, “the unknown” are most likely to experience things such as rape and sexual assault in comparison to women and children.
Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said, “This bill is an invasion of the privacy of Utahns. No student should be denied access to the bathroom that aligns with who they are. No one should fear harassment in the most private of settings.”
The HRC reports that anti-LGBTQ policies are at an all-time high of being unpopular in the nation with a high of 55% of Republicans against laws being passed to limit the rights of transgender students.
The legislation says that people found in violation can be charged with loitering, lewdness or voyeurism, as well as trespassing. The law is similar to some passed in Kentucky, North Dakota, Florida, Alabama. West Virginia legislators are considering similar legislation, while Connecticut still believes that students shouldn’t be segregated because of how they identify.
Utah’s ACLU argued that the law violates Title IX, which requires institutions that receive federal funds to be nondiscriminatory in areas of gender, including sexual orientation and gender identity.” Title IX was originally passed in June 23,1972 with the aspirations of avoiding “the use of federal resources to support discriminatory practices in education programs, and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices” as stated in the court case of Cannon v. University of Chicago.
Another exception to this legislation is that “public school students cannot be charged criminally for using the bathroom that matches their gender identity,” as reported by NBC News.