A state Senate committee heard emotional testimony on House Bill 269 on Thursday. The bill would prohibit transgender students at public colleges from living in dorms that don’t match their biological sex.
The bill, which, as the Deseret News previously reported, already received approval from a House committee, continues to generate intense debate.
Emotional testimony on both sides
Front and center at the hearing were two Utah State University students — freshman Avery Saltzman and sophomore Marcie Robertson, a transgender resident assistant.
The two were randomly assigned to room together.
“I would never have chosen to live on campus in an apartment with a man identifying as a woman,” Saltzman told the Senate Education Committee. “(This situation) puts women in a position where we have to decide to put ourselves at risk... or face social persecution.”
“I began receiving harassing emails and credible threats to safety,” Robertson said. “If this legislation is truly about the comfort of cis-gender students, then it is sorely counterproductive to remove transgender people from sex-designated housing... Comfort and understanding is not bred out of shoving us in a corner. It’s done by open conversation.”
What will the future look like for Utah students?
The bill passed the Senate Education Committee. All committee members but Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Salt Lake City, voted in favor of the bill.
The bill now heads to the full Senate.
The bill, HB269, tries to balance anti-discrimination protections with privacy concerns over restrooms, locker rooms and housing.
Specifically, the bill mandates that individuals stay in rooms that correspond with their sex designation, regardless of their gender identity or even the sex their birth certificate indicates (in the case of birth certificate changes).
The ACLU of Utah is opposed to the legislation, as is the Utah House Democratic Caucus, which released a public statement outlining their unanimous opposition to the bill, where they expressed their dismay with the legislation.
But supporters of the bill say that the measure ensures safety and privacy.
“We shouldn’t be here,” testified Cheryl Saltzman, Avery Saltzman’s mother. “This should never have been allowed to happen. ”My intention... is to protect my three daughters and every single woman."
