Even with the substitute bill, we remain opposed to HB 257. While the substitute bill drops restrictions on publicly-funded bathrooms, the bill targets the rights of Transgender and Nonbinary Utahns. The bill still:
- Has a BATHROOM BAN for public schools. Another attack from powerful policymakers on Transgender and Nonbinary
- Leaves restrictions on publicly-owned and operated changing rooms.
- Still has criminal penalties focusing on changing rooms instead of restrooms.
- It attempts to enshrine outdated and inaccurate definitions of sex and families into law, expanding government overreach and promoting discrimination against transgender, nonbinary, or suspected transgender individuals.
- Defines a female as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is of the general type that functions to produce ova;" the bill would require all state laws that offer protections for women only to be applied to cisgender women.
- It perpetuates discrimination and erodes legal protections under the guise of protecting women's rights.
