Barely four days into the Utah Legislature’s 2024 general session, the Utah House voted Friday to approve a broad bill that includes provisions to restrict transgender access from bathrooms and other facilities in publicly-owned buildings.

HB257, which also includes requirements to expand unisex or single-stall facilities, now goes to the Utah Senate. It’s expected to receive a second public hearing in front of a Senate committee early next week.

Utah Democrats put up a fight to protest the bill — arguing it targets, segregates and puts at risk transgender people, an already vulnerable community — but the House’s Republican supermajority passed the bill on a mostly party line vote, 52-17.

Three Republicans — Rep. Marsha Judkins, R-Provo; Rep. Judy Weeks Rohner, R-West Valley City; and Rep. Anthony Loubet, R-Kearns — joined Democrats to vote against the bill.

The debate

Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Millcreek, currently Utah’s only openly gay legislator, spoke against the bill, saying she’s “scared” of what it means for transgender people and their ability to move freely in public spaces, having to “choose between holding their bladder or potentially being seen as a criminal.”

“We’re sending messages that people can be criminals for existing in bathrooms,” Hayes said. “I don’t know what that says to LGBTQ and trans people who have just as much of a right to be here as everybody else, when we imply that we don’t even trust them to pee in public. That’s a problem.”

A tearful Hayes, who has previously publicly said she’s the partner of a transgender woman, said she’s “scared for my family.”

“We’ve had multiple discussions about what our lives will look like should this pass,” Hayes said on the House floor. “What kind of life am I asking my loved ones to lead if they cannot go to the bathroom safely in public?”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, urged lawmakers to support her legislation, describing it as an effort to increase privacy for “all Utahns.” She said she’s sought a middle-ground approach while also trying to achieve equal opportunity for women and girls in schools, sports facilities and other public spaces.

“Women across Utah want privacy,” Birkeland said, saying one of her constituents told her they were alarmed when their 8-year-old daughter came out of a bathroom stall to see a “man” in the restroom, with no recourse. “This bill doesn’t target one specific group. It creates privacy for all Utahns.”

HB257 would also codify in state law measures based on Title IX, a 1972 federal law banning gender discrimination in school programs such as sports, to ensure “fair and equal access to facilities, equipment and practice times,” Birkeland has said, for both men and women.

Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, (who is also running for governor this year) said despite his requests of Birkeland to produce data or police reports indicating transgender access in bathrooms is an issue, he’s yet to see any information that suggests there’s a problem. He said the bill addresses “perceived” issues.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” he said, describing the effort as a “wedge issue” that “targets vulnerable individuals.”

Hate crimes statistics released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows LGBTQ+ targeted crimes increased from 2022 to 2021, including a “significant” increase of nearly 40% in reported anti-transgender incidents (totaling 338).

In Utah, hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people hit a five-year high in 2023, according to data from the Utah Department of Public Safety. Last year, the department recorded 82 hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, more than the prior four years combined.

Transgender people are also disproportionately impacted by suicide and depression.

A more nuanced approach

Birkeland choked up on the House floor, saying she knows the debate around her bill has been difficult, but she’s tried to find a nuanced approach in the debate while also responding to concerns about reserving spaces for women and girls and men and boys.

Notably, her bill includes measures to allow transgender people who have  “undergone a primary sex characteristic surgical procedure” and have legally changed their birth certificate to access their corresponding facilities.

Birkeland has said it also would not require a “genital check,” and only allow voyeurism or criminal trespass penalties to be brought against a person if a situation causes “alarm.”

To criticisms that her bill stems from the latest national conservative culture war trend, Birkeland said “no conservative think tank or national group” has supported her bill “because it takes such a middle-of-the road approach.” She said she’s been told “it gives too much.”

But Birkeland said she’s taken this approach “because I care,” and she accused the media of sensationalizing her bill. “Is it flawless? Is it perfect? No,” she said. “Can we continue down a path to make it better? Absolutely.”

Marina Lowe, policy director for Equality Utah, Utah’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, told Utah News Dispatch after the House’s vote that Birkeland’s bill is indeed “not just a straight ban,” but it still creates challenges for transgender individuals.

“I will give her credit, it does look different than (bills) from other states,” Lowe said, but the bottom line is the bill still restricts transgender people’s ability to access facilities that they have otherwise been able to.

“It raises a whole host of questions for trans people using facilities moving forward,” she said. “Questions (like), ‘Will I be confronted by somebody? Will somebody feel alarmed or affronted merely by my presence? What am I going to have to do to prove that I’m lawfully where I should be? Am I going to be charged or reported?'”

The vote comes just two days after the bill received its first legislative public hearing on Wednesday in front of a House committee.

During that hearing, dozens of detractors, including transgender Utahns, urged lawmakers to stop what’s become an annual pattern of restricting transgender rights. Supporters included numerous parents and others concerned about uncomfortably encountering “men” in women’s bathrooms and locker facilities.

Birkeland’s bill is expected to get a second public hearing in front of the Senate Business and Labor Committee early next week, then advance to the Senate floor on Wednesday or Thursday, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told reporters Friday.

Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, have applauded Birkeland’s efforts and have prioritized her bill for consideration.

Utah lawmakers have not yet considered a separate bill that would also restrict transgender access in Utah public schools and universities. HB253 sponsored by Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding (who is also running for governor), is narrowed to schools but doesn’t include provisions to expand unisex spaces for transgender individuals.

Lyman was absent from the House floor on Friday and did not vote on Birkeland’s bill. According to his social media, Lyman was headed to St. George for an event with Riley Gaines, a former Kentucky swimmer who has protested the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.

Kyle Dunphey contributed to this report.

Utah News Dispatch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news source covering government, policy and the issues most impacting the lives of Utahns.

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