Transgender students would be required to use the bathroom or locker rooms that correspond to their biological sex under a bill circulated for co-sponsorship late Tuesday.
Under the proposal, authored by state Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, school boards would be required to designate each bathroom and locker room for “the exclusive use of pupils of only one sex,” according to the bill’s text. It would allow students who are transgender to use a single occupancy room if that student’s parents submit a request.
If a school board receives a complaint from a student or parent that a transgender student has violated this provision, the bill requires the body to investigate and resolve the complaint within 30 days. The bill does not specify what type of punishment violators would receive and Kremer told the Wisconsin State Journal it would be up to individual school boards.
The authors maintain that the bill is necessary to provide a uniform policy statewide and to prevent discrimination.
“To put it plainly, no student of any gender should be made to feel uncomfortable or threatened in the most private places in our schools,” the authors wrote in a memo seeking co-sponsorship for the bill. “This bill reinforces the societal norm in our schools that students born biologically male must not be allowed to enter facilities designated for biological females and vice versa.”
A spokesperson for Kremer said there were presently no plans to expand the bill to include public restrooms elsewhere, including the UW System.
LGBT advocacy group Fair Wisconsin blasted the bill, with Interim Executive Director Megin McDonell saying the agency’s “number one priority” is to defeat the bill.
“This bill is an unnecessary solution in search of a problem,” McDonell said in a statement. “It singles out, isolates and stigmatizes transgender students, who often already face harassment and exclusion at school.”
Other states have considered similar bills but none have passed. Some worry the proposed bill could conflict with U.S. Department of Justice rulings, arguing that transgender rights are protected under the federal Title IX law and the Civil Rights Act.
