Big changes made to Utah’s controversial bathroom bill, but concerns remain

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The controversial Utah bathroom bill that set to limit, when first introduced, which public bathrooms transgender people could use was read on the Senate floor Wednesday, and it included some major changes.

Now, the bill will let people use whatever public bathroom they prefer, but school children will be required to use the bathroom that aligns with the gender on their birth certificates. The same requirements would also apply to publicly-owned changing rooms.

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“We want to ensure that everyone feels comfortable in privacy areas in Utah,” Sen. Daniel McCay (R-Riverton) said as he read the amended bill. McCay is the bill’s floor sponsor. The bill sponsor is Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Morgan).

While McCay emphasized the desire to make everyone feel safe and comfortable in public privacy areas, some are feeling more unsafe than before.

“We’re just regular, everyday people trying to live our lives and get through the day,” Locran Murphy told ABC4.

Murphy is a transgender woman. She spent much of her childhood in Utah and currently lives, works and goes to school in the Beehive State.

As someone who lost her family five years ago when she began her transition, Murphy wants others to know that trans people are not the scary creatures they may have heard about. These types of narratives are what led her family to cut contact with her.

Trans people, she emphasized, are people who are just trying to exist.

“This bill needs to stop targeting transgender people,” Murphy said, adding that if it were about protecting women, there would be additional clauses to support the success of women.

House Bill 257 is called “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying, and Women’s Opportunities,” and it passed the Utah House of Representatives last week.  

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On Wednesday, during the bill’s second reading on the Senate floor, McCay noted some big changes in the bill.

The bill originally barred people from using restrooms in public buildings that did not align with the gender on their birth certificate. However, when McCay read the amended bill, he revealed that was no longer the case.

But it was change that didn’t bring a full sense of relief to the trans community.

“Even if I am able to use that restroom, there are still plenty of people who are going to misperceive or misunderstand the law and harass me in the restroom,” Murphy said.

Murphy told ABC4 that she also worries cisgender women who present more masculine may also become targets while using the restroom.

Avoiding unnecessary conflict is something the bill aims to ensure.

“The bill requires state and local entities to improve privacy by providing single-occupancy facilities in new buildings and studying the feasibility of retrofitting existing facilities,” McCay said.

While people will be able to continue using public bathrooms of their choice, the bill limits the use of public locker rooms and changing rooms to people based on gender as marked on their birth certificate.

“It still includes exceptions for medical emergencies, law enforcement, maintenance work, assisting children, elderly and people with disabilities,” McCay said.

When it comes to school children, they will have to use the school restrooms that align with their birth gender.

“Both as a mom and as a pediatrician, I have this kind of gut-punch feeling. I can’t leave the kids behind,” Sen. Jen Plumb (D-Salt Lake City) told ABC4.

Plumb worries that children who are transgender unbeknownst to their classmates will now be outed and bullied as a result.

Plumb also opposes the bill because, as a mother, she has a grown daughter who is trans.

“Our trans community are four times more likely to be assaulted as the rest of the community, so they’re actually the ones jeopardized in bathrooms,” Plumb said.

Equality Utah is one organization that opposes the bill. A representative told ABC4 that they are happy that some of the amendments to the bill looked to change inappropriate behavior in public spaces rather than demonize a group of people. However, the organization believes the bill will lead to serious litigation.

“This is going to lead to harm in our schools,” said Marina Lowe, the policy director at Equality Utah. “Children being confronted in a bathroom setting. We already know that transgender children are fearful of transgender spaces, and this does nothing to help alleviate those concerns.”

The bathroom bill could be up for a vote as soon as Thursday.

ABC4 reached out to Rep. Birkeland and Sen. McCay for comment. Neither has responded to the request.

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