Bathroom bill

A bathroom bill is the common name for legislation or a statute that defines access to public facilities – specifically restrooms – by transgender individuals. Bathroom bills affect access to restrooms for an individual based on a determination of their sex as defined in some specific way – such as their sex as assigned at birth, their sex as listed on their birth certificate, or the sex that corresponds to their gender identity. A bathroom bill can either be inclusive or exclusive of transgender individuals, depending on the aforementioned definition of their sex.

Critics of bills which exclude transgender individuals from restrooms which conform to their gender identity argue that they do not make public restrooms any safer for cisgender (non-transgender) people, and that they make public restrooms less safe for both transgender people and gender non-conforming cisgender people. Additionally, while there is not a single documented case of a transgender person attacking a cisgender person in a public restroom, many transgender people have been verbally, physically, and sexually harassed or attacked by cisgender people in public facilities.

One bathroom bill, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act in North Carolina, has been approved as a law, although a preliminary injunction has been issued to prevent enforcement of its restroom-related provisions by the University of North Carolina.

Canada

In Canada, the New Democratic Party (NDP) has introduced several bills that tried to include gender identity and gender expression among the characteristics protected from discrimination and eligible to be considered in sentencing crimes motivated by hate. These bills were frequently referred to as "bathroom bills" by their critics as they would have allowed transgender individuals to use the public facilities corresponding to their gender identity.

In 2009, NDP MP Bill Siksay introduced Bill C-389 to the 40th Parliament. The bill was passed by the House of Commons in 2011 but was defeated by the Senate.

Bill C-279, introduced to the 41st Parliament in 2011 by NDP MP Randall Garrison, was passed and sent to the Senate in March 2013. In 2015, Senator Don Plett introduced three amendments to the bill, one of which exempted public washrooms and changerooms from the bill's protections. The bill was also ultimately defeated in the Senate.

Garrison re-introduced the bill to the 42nd Parliament as Bill C-204.

United States

See also: Gender identity under Title IX

In a landmark 2013 case, the Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled in favor of 6-year-old transgender student Coy Mathis to use the girls bathroom at her elementary school. It was the first ruling of its kind in the United States and has been credited as setting off a wave of bathroom bills across the country.

In October 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender male student who was barred from using the boys' bathrooms at his high school in Gloucester County, Virginia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit had previously ruled that Grimm could use these restrooms, but the Supreme Court stayed that decision in August.

Alabama

A bathroom bill was introduced in Alabama on February 7, 2017 by state Senator Phil Williams. The bill, if passed, would require attendants to be present in mixed-gender public bathrooms to ensure that no crimes are committed there.

Arizona

A bathroom bill was introduced in Arizona, but it failed to pass after it was withdrawn by its sponsor, John Kavanagh, in 2013.

California

In September 2016, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bathroom bill that mandates single-occupancy public bathrooms be gender-neutral in order to enable easier access for transgender people. The law goes into effect on March 1, 2017.

Florida

A bathroom bill was introduced in Florida in the spring of 2015 by Representative Frank Artiles. The bill went through two House committees, but did not pass. There is no bathroom bill currently on file in the Florida state legislature, but organizations like Equality Florida are preparing for the possibility of future bills.

Kentucky

On February 27, 2015, a bathroom bill was passed in the Kentucky Senate.

Minnesota

A bathroom bill was introduced in Minnesota in 2016.

Nevada

On March 19, 2015, Victoria Dooling, a Nevada state representative, proposed a bathroom bill that would apply to public schoolchildren in the state. It later died in committee.

North Carolina

Main article: Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act

On March 23, 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) signed into law the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The law states that in government buildings, individuals (such as students at state-operated schools) may only use restrooms and changing facilities that correspond to the sex identified on their birth certificates. Transgender persons born in North Carolina can obtain modified birth certificates on which their sex is different than what was originally identified at the time of their birth, but only if they have undergone sex reassignment surgery. For those born in other places, the ability to change the sex listed on a birth certificate is governed by their place of birth (which may have substantially different requirements, and in some cases may not allow such changes).

The bill also overturns an LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance that had been passed by Charlotte, North Carolina, prevents local governments in the state from enacting similar ordinances, and prevents cities from raising their minimum wages higher than that of the state.

On August 26, 2016, a U.S. District Court judge granted a preliminary injunction, preventing the University of North Carolina from enforcing the restroom provisions of the bill.

South Dakota

Main article: South Dakota House Bill 1008

On February 16, 2016, the South Dakota Senate voted 20-15 to approve a bathroom bill that, had it passed, would have been the first in the country to require public schoolchildren to use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth. On March 1, 2016, the governor of South Dakota, Dennis Daugaard, vetoed the bill.

Tennessee

On April 6, 2016, the Tennessee House Education Administration and Planning Committee, which is part of the Tennessee House of Representatives, passed a bathroom bill that would apply to public schools and colleges in the state and would require students to use a restroom that corresponds with their sex as identified at birth. The house sponsor of the bill tabled the bill for potential consideration in the next year's session.

Texas

Two bills were filed in early 2015 by state representative Debbie Riddle, that would have made it a crime to enter a public restroom or locker room "not designated for a person’s biological sex at birth." Two more were filed by freshman state representative Gilbert Peña that would permit a bystander to sue a transgender person who used a prohibited bathroom for up to $2,000 USD, in addition to being eligible for compensation for "mental anguish." Neither bill was voted on for consideration.

The "Texas Privacy Bill" introduced on January 5, 2017 would if passed require Texas residents to use bathrooms according to their sex designation on their birth certificate. It would also prohibit local governments from passing laws that protect gay rights in "intimate settings" such as public restrooms.

Virginia

In early 2017, HB1612, proposed by Republican, Bob Marshall would bar users to use the restroom, changing facility or private area of their non born sex in government buildings. In HB1612, it also stated that individuals that did not use the bathroom of their born sex would be subject to civil action. Additionally, HB1612 required school principals to inform the parents of a child if the child did not wish to identify as their born sex. The bill was killed in subcommittee on January 19, 2017.

Washington

In early 2015, SB 6548, which would prevent transgender individuals from using the bathroom associated with the gender with which they identify was introduced in the senate but failed to pass. In December 2015, Washington State's Human Rights Commission enacted a rule that allowed transgender individuals to use bathrooms conforming with their gender identities. Early in 2016, a bill to overturn the ruling (SB 6443) was voted on in the state Senate, and defeated by a margin of 25-24. An attempt to put a state voter initiative on the November 2016 ballot, I-1515, failed to reach the number of signatures necessary to appear on the ballot. On December 5, 2016, a new bill, HB 1011 was pre-filed in the Washington State House. This bill would prevent transgender individuals from using a bathroom of their gender identity unless they have had sex-reassignment surgery, and would prevent local municipalities from enacting ordinances contradicting the directive.

Wisconsin

In November 2015, Wisconsin held a hearing on a bathroom bill to require public schoolchildren to use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth. According to critics, the bill would also violate the federal government's Office for Civil Rights's 2014 statement that federal nondiscrimination law covered gender identity. The following month, the bill was revised to allow public schools to offer gender-neutral bathrooms.

Criticism

Critics of bathroom bills have argued that they place transgender people in danger without making cisgender people any safer and that they even make things more dangerous for gender non-conforming cisgender people. Marcie Bianco, writing for Mic, pointed out that there is not a single documented case of a transgender person attacking a cisgender person in a public restroom. Writing for Patheos, Terry Firma argued that there have been more Republican politicians arrested for sex acts in bathrooms than transgender people. On the other hand, according to the largest U.S. survey of transgender people ever undertaken, carried out by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) in 2015 with 27,715 respondents, one percent of respondents reported being sexually assaulted in a public restroom for being transgender. Twelve percent reported being verbally harassed in a public restroom, and another one percent reported being non-sexually physically assaulted for being transgender. Nine percent reported being denied the right to use a public restroom consistent with their gender. The NCTE points out in its report that this survey was undertaken before any bathroom bills had been passed or were in the news.