New ‘bathroom bill’ for schools advances in state legislature
As in 2016, critics call it discriminatory, stigmatizing
In 2016, an initiative requiring transgender students to use bathrooms according to their sex at birth failed in the Tennessee legislature amid staunch opposition from LGBTQ advocates, who deemed the bill discriminatory and stigmatizing.
Five years later, critics fear that a similar measure championed by two lawmakers would have the same effect.
HB1233/SB1367, sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary, R-knoxville, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-riceville, would effectively allow students to refuse sharing school facilities — such as bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms — with transgender students and sue public schools that do not provide them with “reasonable accommodations.”
The bill cleared the House K-12 Subcommittee Tuesday night and will move on to a full House committee.
Zachary said his bill arose from school administrations’ confusion over the handling of student bathroom access based on their gender identities. His bill, he said, would provide protection for “all children” and present “a clear path forward” for schools to follow.
“There is a high school that has reached out to me, they are having to (deal with) a problem with boys using the girls’ restroom,” he said. “And they feel like they are handcuffed, and there’s not much they can do about it. This bill takes care of that. It stops all that and just provides absolute clarity.”
But the bill would send a detrimental message to the transgender community in Tennessee, said Chris Sanders, executive director of Tennessee Equality Project.
“(The Legislature) is going on the attack against trans students and trans youth,” he said. “Now, the Legislature comes along and says, ‘Hey everybody, there’s this category of people that we will protect you from if you want to be protected from.’”
The bill would require public schools to accommodate students unwilling or unable to access multi-occupancy bathrooms, locker rooms, shower rooms and sleeping quarters for any reason. Students would have to submit a written request for the accommodations, and they would have the ability to sue schools for not providing enough accommodations.
According to the bill, students are allowed to sue if they ask for accommodations but later “encounter a person of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy restroom,” single-sex changing rooms or sleeping quarters. The term “sex” is defined as sex at birth instead of gender identity.
Under his legislation, Zachary said transgender students would by default use those facilities in accordance with their sex at birth. If transgender students request for accommodation with restroom access, he said schools would be required to provide them with access to single-occupancy bathrooms aligning with their sex at birth.
“If they were born as a boy, they will use a single-occupancy restroom,” he said, referring to transgender female students as an example.
Much like the 2016 bathroom bill, Sanders said both bills would target transgender students and encourage the stigma around their gender identity.
“Trans students are at school to learn. And just like everybody else who has to go to the bathroom, that’s what they are going in there for. They are not going in there to bother anyone,” he said. “This bill reduces trans students to someone that the state is giving you the right to avoid . ... That’s why it’s stigmatizing.”
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have been pushing for legislation critics say are discriminatory toward the LGBTQ community. With Zachary’s bill included, at least four bills have been filed this year to restrict LGBTQ education in textbooks and transgender children’s access to gender-affirming care, school sports and school facilities.
One bill, which would bar transgender student athletes from participating in secondary school sports under their gender identity, is one vote away from arriving on the desk of a supportive governor. Another bill restricting transgender youth’s access to gender-affirming care in Tennessee will be presented before a House subcommittee Wednesday morning.
The Legislature also passed a bill last year enhancing the punishment for those who commit indecent exposure in public restrooms, which opponents said would criminalize transgender people. The bill cleared the Legislature despite warnings from Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, R-oak Ridge, of potential backlash from the LGBTQ communities.