Bills aimed at defining the spaces transgender people can and cannot use have been put forth by two Utah Republican legislators. Five days before the start of Utah’s 2024 legislative session, on Thursday, the original bill language was first made available online at the Legislature.
The second, written by Blanding Republican Rep. Phil Lyman and titled “Use of Sex-Designated Facilities in Public,” forbids transgender people from using gender-appropriate restrooms, locker rooms, or changing areas in Utah’s K–12 schools and higher education institutions. The policy, HB253, may also mandate that public schools establish rules that, with few exceptions, only permit people to use such spaces in accordance with their assigned sex at birth, as well as lay out punitive sanctions in the event that students disobey.
A much more comprehensive act from Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, defines a female as “an individual whose natural reproductive system is of the standard type that functions to produce ova.” If the bill is approved, only cisgender people may be covered by all state regulations that provide protections for females.
HB257, which is titled “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying, and Women’s Opportunities,” appears to be modeled after the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” a model piece of legislation from the independent, right-leaning law center that aims to restrict who qualifies as women.
Similar policies have been put into place in the past few years by a number of other Republican states, either through their state legislatures or executive orders.
Lyman did not immediately respond to requests for comment after Birkeland said she would not comment on the policy to The Salt Lake Tribune.
