House committee approves transgender bathroom bill
On Wednesday, the second day of the state legislative session, a House committee approved a transgender bathroom bill. Rep. Kera Birkeland described the bill, HB257, as an effort to increase privacy in restrooms and locker rooms in government buildings.
The bill does this by barring transgender individuals from using a gender-specific facility. The bill also requires more unisex or single-stall facilities in all publicly-funded buildings. It narrowly defines both “male” and “female” in code.
The House Business and Labor Committee advanced the bill after a lengthy hearing. During the discussion, there were concerns expressed that the bill could hurt domestic violence shelters by limiting the services they could provide to transgender individuals.
A proposed amendment to address these concerns failed. The bill will now head to the full House for consideration where it could be considered by lawmakers by the end of the week.
Man saves semi-truck driver in blizzard
During a blizzard last Friday near Strawberry Reservoir a driver who pulled off the road spotted an overturned semi truck in the distance. Tyler Mahoney was headed to a cabin when snow slowed traffic and visibility was less than 15 feet. Mahoney said he turned off into a parking lot near the Soldier Creek turnoff. That was when he spotted the overturned semi truck and and checked to see if anyone was inside. As he approached the wreck he found a conscious man inside the overturned truck who appeared to be covered in crude oil.
With the help of his father, Mahoney was able to save the driver Kent Ashton.
UWLP releases research summaries
On Wednesday, Utah State University’s Utah Women and Leadership Project published three research summaries showing the perceptions Utahns have surrounding childcare and pre-K programs, child sexual abuse and the gender pay gap.
These summaries are from a statewide survey to establish a baseline of public perception of the awareness, understanding and attitudes regarding the challenges of Utah women and girls. These are the first of 19 summaries that will be published from the survey.
The questions for the survey were developed based on baseline data from leaders of A Bolder Way Forward, a new initiative inviting Utahns to break down the barriers that keep women and girls from thriving.
