At age five, Harrison knew he was different, but he didn’t have the words to explain why he belonged in the boys’ bathroom and wasn’t put in the girls’ bathroom. When he came out as transgender in middle school, his classmates responded with assault threats.
Being able to use a proper bathroom seemed like a desperate wish, and for years he would run across campus to use the bathroom in the nurse’s office. Today, Harrison is in East He Valley Vocational High School where he is taking two credits and has finally been cleared to use the men’s restroom.
“This is very gender-affirming,” he said. “It has improved my mental health.”
But a new proposal put forward by a Republican congressman with a history of anti-trans laws seeks to overturn all the progress Harrison has made. Senate Bill 1040 Public schools are mandated to provide alternative options for people who “unwilling or unable to” use biologically-matched multiperson toilets or changing rooms.
One of the options given is a disposable employee toilet. If someone shares a bathroom or changing room with someone of the opposite sex and the school allows it, they can sue and claim damages for “mental, emotional and physical harm.” increase.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator John Kavanagh, told the Arizona Mirror that the bill would act as a middle ground approach for trans people and those who are hesitant about sharing public facilities with them. Told.
“It’s a reasonable compromise to provide space for everyone to change, shower, and go to the bathroom,” he said. I feel very unsafe when people of any gender are standing.”
This isn’t the first time Fountain Hills Republicans have tried to keep trans people out of public restrooms in Arizona. In February 2013, the Phoenix City Council voted to expand the antidiscrimination ordinanceAdds sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to characteristics that people cannot discriminate against in employment, housing, or other public facilities. Less than a month later, Kavanagh overthrew an unrelated bill regarding members of the massage therapy board, Simply entering a public restroom, shower, or changing room opposite to one’s biological sex is a sixth-degree felony..
When that effort failed, Kavanagh created a new countermeasure Protect companies that choose to ban transgender people from using their facilities Most suitable for gender identity. It too was ultimately defeated.
last year, Record wave of anti-LGBTQ bills across the countryCabana reworked the bathroom bill targeted at schoolsThis year’s bill is the same as last year’s bill that did not pass initial committee discussion.
The new bill, which has yet to be voted on by the committee, was prematurely added to the agenda of the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 18. Cabana pronoun bill, which prompted transgender Arizonas and allies to fill the room and voice their disagreements. Currently not assigned to any committee, but hearings are open until mid-February.
Determining the “value” of an argument
It is also highly unlikely that this year’s iteration will be legislated. Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs previously said, Condemn Laws Targeting Trans Communityand her chief of staff, Allie Bones, promptly dismissed Kavanagh’s anti-trans bill that restricted the use of preferred pronouns in schools. death on arrival.
Still, Kavanagh did not lose hope, pointing out that even if his bills fell victim to Hobbs’ veto, it was worth discussing them.
“We need to have a public debate. We need to inform parliamentarians and the general public,” he said. “People may change their minds, but voters need to know where I am, where the governor stands, and where every member of Congress in this building stands on important issues. I have.”
That’s not an argument Jeanne Woodbury, a lobbyist for the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Arizona, agrees with. He said it was nothing more than an attempt to foment animosity towards the whole.
“There is no real debate. There is no real issue that exists between trans people and their communities,” she said. It’s frequently misunderstood, which is why it’s such a popular target for these fear-mongering campaigns.
“That’s why they’re sponsoring these bills even though they know they have no chance of succeeding, because whether they pass or not, they perpetuate a rhetorical campaign of fear. ”
This was a concern for Harrison, who attended a school in conservative Pinal County, where he encountered some of the most violence from fellow students. (Pseudonym because he fears reprisal from the government.) Larger school districts, like the one he currently attends in Phoenix, are generally more accommodating, he found, but he doesn’t like laws like the Cabana’s toilet bill. And the rhetoric that stems from it could endanger other transgender students who live in more rural areas. Especially if they are not perceived by their peers as conforming to their gender identity.
“When you push bigotry into school, it creates a lot of problems,” says Harrison. “Without the bills that constantly attack us, we would have less money. Man attacking us. ”
transgender people four times more likely to experience violence than those who are not transgender. Also, limiting the public facilities available inevitably increases the chances of it happening. A Harvard University study found that students who attend schools that deny access to restrooms and changing rooms that match their gender identity Significant increase in risk of being sexually assaulted.
limited school resources
Tami Staas, executive director of the Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization, is the mother of a trans man who struggled with reduced acceptance times in Arizona schools and a teacher who questions the logistics behind Kavanagh’s proposal.
“As a teacher, these are the least of my worries,” she said. It makes it more difficult.”
Staas wondered who among the already overworked school staff would be responsible for keeping students out of the “wrong” bathroom to prevent future lawsuits.
“If I take a child to the bathroom, he is alone. I don’t take him to the bathroom,” she said. “Do we need to hire someone to make sure the right people go to the right bathroom? Who will fund the position? It seems like a bad idea.”
Schools should be safe places where all students can thrive and reach their peak, Staas added. But legislation like Kavanagh’s has only succeeded in keeping transgender and LGBTQ students away. High absenteeism among LGBTQ youth has declined, You perform better when you feel supported in the classroomaccording to research by GLSEN, a professional LGBTQ education organization.
Rather than subjecting schools to underfunded obligations or the threat of lawsuits, Stas said, legislators should adopt a no-interference approach that allows schools to address issues that arise on a case-by-case basis. I said it should be considered.
“Why pass a law to accommodate one student when you can build accommodation on the premises?” she asked. “I’m not going to change the whole system just to make it comfortable.”
The Big Picture: The Battle of the Federal Government—Maybe
Arizona isn’t the only state considering implementing a toilet ban. From 2013 to 2016, 24 states introduced their own versionsTwo states have been successful since then. Alabama and Tennessee Both passed laws separating toilets and changing rooms by biological sex. recently, The federal appeals court ruled last month A similar policy in public schools in Florida was found constitutional and set up an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has so far refused to consider the issue.
In 2020, the High Court will Bostock vs. Clayton County Federal civil rights law protected LGBTQ workers from employment discrimination, but Justice Neil Gorsuch said the ruling was narrow and Didn’t try to address the bathroom or changing roomGorsuch wrote in the majority that it was a decision for future litigation.
Defenders may get a chance to get such a decision out of the Supreme Court by appealing the verdict in last month’s Florida case, but they won’t. wary of consequences of newly conservative courts It’s not afraid to overthrow a landmark case.
