Transgender anti-discrimination law came under the spotlight Thursday as legislators shared their views and heard from members of the public over a housing regulation bill.
Conversation in the packed committee meeting focused on revisions to a state law passed in 2015 prohibiting discrimination against transgender individuals concerning housing, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Some lawmakers, including Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, have advocated closing some “loopholes” in the 2015 law.
Controversy over revision of the bill
A Facebook post about a transgender resident assistant assigned to an all-girls dorm suite at Utah State University reignited interest in the 2015 law, as the Deseret News previously reported.
The new bill, HB269, tries to balance anti-discrimination protections with privacy concerns over restrooms, locker rooms and housing — like the incident at USU.
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).
Individuals may still opt into gender-neutral housing under HB269.
The bill has incited controversy in and outside of the Capitol chambers.
On Thursday, several members of the public advocated for and against the bill in front of a committee of House members. Emotions ran high, with speakers on both sides shedding tears and raising voices.
“It is disappointing and frightening how quickly (my) rights and safety were thrust aside for a man’s feelings,” Avery Saltzman, a USU student who had been assigned to share a living space with the transgender resident assistant, told the committee. “I should have been able to live and learn in a comfortable and safe community on campus.
“There is no need for a policy encouraging literal segregation,” testified Mackenzie Robertson, the mother of the transgender resident assistant at USU. “My daughter ... was randomly assigned to this dorm and was so excited to meet other girls and make friends. ... I am in shock at the treatment my daughter has received by grown adults who have put her safety at significant risk. I am appalled by the writers of this bill for holding the safety of other girls over the safety of mine.”
“This bill needs a lot of work,” she told the committee. “It needs collaboration. It needs other points of view, and it needs to use actual facts. Trans people always existed and they always will.”
In his inaugural remarks and an executive order he signed on the first day of his term, President Donald Trump indicated that the federal government will only recognize two sexes — male and female — and required that “agencies shall ... ensure that intimate spaces ... are designated by sex and not identity.”
Multiple advocates in favor of the bill cited the executive order in their comments to the committee.
All but two members of the House Business, Labor and Commerce Committee voted in favor of the bill, with Rep. Ashlee Matthews, D-West Jordan, and Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, voting against.
“We don’t want to touch that (2015) compromise because it (centered on) rights as well as religious freedoms, and we are very sensitive to that,” Schultz told reporters. “We don’t believe people should be discriminating. But the intent of that bill is never to allow biological males into female dorms.”
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, framed the discussion around safety.
“Personally, I wouldn’t have an issue,” she said. “My (university-aged) kids don’t have an issue. And actually in the school where my daughter goes, that is not a problem. They have mixed (dorms) and everything. ... We were hearing from (USU) students also that they didn’t see that this was a problem regarding safety. ... So yeah, we’re going to be looking into this, and we recognize this is a tricky place. ... (but if) we’re going to be looking into safety, we better make sure that we’re addressing the safety of all students.”