Salt Lake City – A pair of bills that were introduced in the Utah State Legislature aim to restrict trans people’s access to locker rooms and public facilities.
However, in an effort to reach an agreement with LGBTQ+ rights activists, one aims to increase the presence of more personal, mixed restroom facilities.
House Bill 257, which Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, filed, she claimed would require public services to increase the number of private changing places and bathrooms.
In a recent interview with FOX 13 News, she said, “You need to use the restroom that is compatible with your sex at birth, and if you’re uncomfortable or don’t want to be in that restroom, that’s OK.” “We’ll see to it that you get that one occupancy stall in Utah, we promise.”
Rep. Birkeland stated that if a transgender person has completely transitioned, such as undergoing gender-affirmation surgery and having their gender marker changed on their birth certificate, they are permitted to use the restroom or changing areas in public that are consistent with that person’s gender identity.
Representative Birkeland stated that because constituents prefer more privacy than a group restroom with several stalls or open showering areas, she wanted to increase the number of unisex, one-occupancy restrooms, and changing spaces. She claimed that LGBTQ+ rights organizations had informed her that the majority of trans people also use those isolated areas.
“We need more of these single-occupancy lodgings, and with this bill, it only says that you need to have that in there when you’re rebuilding or doing an upgrade.” Rep. Birkeland told FOX 13 News, “The script will require you to have that at the time.”
Every surface of Utah’s Capitol Hill has a variety of facilities, some of which are gender-neutral. The historic religious liberty and LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination legislation in Utah, which was passed in 2015, permits transgender workers to use restrooms in accordance with their gender identity. Rep. Birkeland expressed uncertainty about how her proposed regulations for this year may affect that.
Private firms are not covered by the bills.
Not only Rep. Birkeland has addressed this issue in legislation. Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, submitted House Bill 253 on Thursday. Similar language is used in his bill, but it goes further by declaring that using a room or changing area that is inconsistent with the gender that was assigned to them at birth constitutes criminal trespass.
Rep. Birkeland said she has been negotiating the language of this bill with LGBTQ+ rights organizations like Equality Utah. She previously sponsored a bill that forbade transgender women from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity (the state is now being sued over).
Equality Utah expressed concern over this and other bills that target the trans community in a statement to FOX 13 News.
Limits on the potential for transgender individuals to use restrooms, a need as part of the human condition, are at the core of both bills. These bills, as they are currently written, pose significant legal and practical issues for the state and make living extremely challenging for trans Utahns. Rep. Birkeland has shown a commitment to learn our problems and we will continue to engage with her on HB 257, regardless of whether we can come to an agreement on the language in, or policy about, these bills, according to the group.
