OAN’s James Meyers
11:48 AM – Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Utah has become the 10th state to regulate bathroom access for transgender people.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R-Utah) signed a bill that requires people in the Beehive State to use bathrooms and locker rooms in government-owned buildings and public schools that matches their sex assigned at birth.
Additionally, the new law also requires schools to create “privacy plans” for trans students who are not comfortable with using their own bathrooms. An example would be allowing them to use faculty bathrooms.
“We want public facilities that are safe and accommodating for everyone and this bill increases privacy protections for all,” Cox said in a statement Tuesday night.
Utah becomes the newest state to pass such a law, joining other states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho etc.
Additionally, the new bill also requires new government buildings to include single-occupant bathrooms and also urges the state to add more bathrooms to increase privacy protections.
However, opposition to the new bill claims that Utah’s legislation should not target transgenders, but their “behavior” instead.
“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,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said Tuesday in a letter asking the governor to veto the legislation.
“All it does is invite scrutiny of people who are transgender or perceived to be transgender when they are lawfully going about their lives,” the letter said.
Furthermore, the bill states that if a transgender violates the newly passed law they would be charged with trespassing if “the individual enters or remains in the changing room under circumstances which a reasonable person would expect to likely cause affront or alarm to, on, or in the presence of another individual,” under the legislation.
Violators would also be charged with loitering, lewdness, and voyeurism.
According to the state’s legislation, the bill’s aim is to protect biological women and girls.
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