Page 6 - aruba today

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 24 February 2017
Bills targeting transgender bathroom access are floundering

DAVID CRARY Yet at the state level, bills already have died this
AP National Writer that would limit transgen- year for lack of high-level
Bills to curtail transgender der bathroom access are support. The South Dakota
people’s access to public floundering even though bill, opposed by GOP Gov.
restrooms are pending in nearly all have surfaced in Dennis Daugaard, would
about a dozen states, but Republican-controlled leg- have required public
even in conservative bas- islatures that share com- school students to use the
tions such as Texas and mon ground politically with locker rooms and shower
Arkansas they may be Trump. In none of the states rooms matching their gen-
doomed by high-powered with pending bills does pas- der at birth.
opposition. sage seem assured; there’s In several other states, such
The bills have taken on a been vigorous opposition as Kansas and Kentucky,
new significance this week from business groups and bathroom bills remain
following the decision by a notable lack of support alive but are gaining little
President Donald Trump’s from several GOP gov- traction. Kentucky’s GOP
administration to revoke ernors. The chief reason, In this April, 2016 photo, protesters rally against House Bill 2 in Ra- Gov. Matt Bevin, though a
an Obama-era federal di- according to transgen- leigh, N.C., which would require transgender people to use rest- staunch social conserva-
rective instructing public der-rights leaders, is the rooms in many public buildings that match their original gender. tive, has dismissed the pro-
Bills to curtail transgender people’s access to public restrooms
schools to let transgender backlash that hit North are pending in about a dozen states, but even in conservative posal as unnecessary gov-
students use bathrooms Carolina after its legislature bastions such as Texas and Arkansas they may be doomed by ernment intrusion.
and locker rooms of their approved a bill in March high-powered opposition. “Is there anyone you know
chosen gender. Many con- 2016 requiring transgen- (Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer via AP) in Kentucky who has trou-
servative leaders hailed der people to use public ble going to the bath-
the assertions by top Trump restrooms that correspond events away from North not to expand in the state. room?” he asked.
appointees that the issue to the sex on their birth Carolina, and businesses In November, Republican In Tennessee, two lawmak-
was best handled at the certificates. Several major such as PayPal decided Pat McCrory, who signed ers promoting a bathroom
state and local level. sports organizations shifted and defended the bill, be- bill abruptly ended a news
came the only incumbent conference last week
governor to lose in the when it was interrupted by
general election. protesters, one wearing a
“We don’t need that T-shirt reading, “You can
in Arkansas,” said that pee next to me.”
state’s GOP governor, Major Tennessee busi-
Asa Hutchinson, earlier this nesses have joined forces
month. “If there’s a North to oppose the bill. And on
Carolina-type bill, then I Thursday, Lt. Gov. Randy
want the Legislature not to McNally said the bill was no
pass it.” North Carolina’s longer needed because of
experience also has been the Trump administration’s
evoked in Texas, where a decision to revoke the di-
“bathroom bill” known as rective on transgender
Senate Bill 6 is being cham- students’ rights. There’s a
pioned by GOP Lt. Gov. bathroom bill pending in
Dan Patrick, who founded Missouri, where an identi-
the Legislature’s tea par- cal proposal didn’t even
ty caucus and oversees receive a hearing last year.
the state Senate. Business Wisconsin’s GOP-con-
groups and LGBT-rights trolled Legislature also re-
supporters have warned jected a bathroom bill last
that passage of the North session; its sponsor promises
Carolina-style bill could to bring it back this year
cost Texas many millions of even though GOP leaders
dollars, as well as the op- have not made it a priority.
portunity to host future pro Other states with pending
sports championships. bathroom bills, accord-
Mark Jones, a political sci- ing to the National Con-
ence professor at Rice Uni- ference of State Legisla-
versity in Houston, assessed tures, include Alabama,
the bill’s chances of enact- Illinois, Minnesota, New
ment as “effectively zero.” York, South Carolina and
The measure might not Washington.q
even clear the Senate, he When these types of bills
said, and would be “dead advance to public hear-
on arrival” if it reached the ings, the sessions can be
House of Representatives. emotional. Samantha
“The centrist conservative DeMichieli, a 13-year-old
Republicans in the House, transgender girl in Missouri,
led by Speaker Joe Straus, started crying when she
view SB 6 as an unwanted told lawmakers this week
distraction,” Jones said. about being bullied; she
In Virginia, South Dakota said the prospect of using
and Wyoming, bills target- a different bathroom was
ing transgender people “horrifying.”q