According to a bill anticipated to be passed by the Utah Legislature on Thursday, transgender Utahns will no longer be able to use restrooms corresponding to their gender identity in Utah’s government-owned and operated facilities.
Just before noon on Thursday, Morgan Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland introduced HB257, “Sex-based Names for Protection, Anti-Bullying, and Women’s Sports,” which modifies the legal definitions of “female” and “male,” to categorize Utahns according to the reproductive organs they were born with. It designates a “women’s bathroom” and a “men’s bathroom” as spaces exclusively for the use of females and males, respectively.
The bill also prohibits transgender individuals from using “changing rooms,” such as locker rooms, showers, and changing areas, in government-owned and controlled facilities that correspond to their gender identity. Some transgender individuals would be permitted to enter gender-specific areas under certain conditions if they had both bottom surgery, an expensive and invasive procedure, and changed their birth certificate, which is legally impossible for people born in some states.
Rather than focusing legal penalties solely on trans people using those spaces, the latest version of the bill places more emphasis on the behavior of those who fit the legal definition of being the opposite sex there.
The second revision of the bill follows the conclusion of two committee sessions on it, both of which featured extended lines of Utahns who came to voice their opinions on the policy, mostly speaking against it.
The last version of the bill on Wednesday was not open to public comment.
Representative Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, presented House Resolution 257 on the Capitol floor on Friday, January 19, 2024 (Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune).
Legislators approved the bill during floor time on Thursday night. The House is expected to meet again for 10 minutes in the evening to approve a revised version of the bill and send it to Governor Spencer Cox for his signature.
Numerous inquiries about the governor’s willingness to sign the bill have gone unanswered. On the first Saturday of the session last month, he signed a law prohibiting gender-affirming treatment for transgender children.
During his State of the State address, Cox appeared to view the bill favorably, stating that the Legislature has a chance to “[provide] more opportunities for women and girls” this session.
After the governor signs the bill, a large portion of it would go into effect immediately. If he vetoes the bill, it will go into effect following a possible legislative override. In May, provisions governing the bill’s enforcement by state agencies would go into effect.
The Senate has passed legislation addressing the state’s transgender community three times in a row.
Legislators passed a law in 2022 prohibiting transgender women from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. While it is being contested in state court, the law is currently suspended. The Legislature voted last session to forbid trans children from receiving medical care.
HB257 has undergone significant changes since it has been with the Senate. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Riverton Republican Sen. Dan McCay, made a substitute public on Wednesday. The substitute initially loosened proposed restrictions in an effort to circumvent legal objections and the possibility of losing federal funding for rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters in Utah.
“It’s one thing to pass a bill, but quite another for it to go into effect,” McCay told reporters on Wednesday. “What I’ve learned from the abortion conversation, and what my previous experience with bills that are lightning rods for constitutional purposes,” he said.
According to the restrictions in the bill, “We will use every tool available, including legal action when necessary, to defend [trans Utahns’] civil rights and liberties from powerful policymakers infringing on these freedoms,” said a spokesperson for the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Additionally, HB257 strengthens Title IX sports rights by requiring that schools treat programs for men and women equally. However, if authorities permit the 2022 restrictions to take effect, those steps might not be beneficial to trans athletes.
