Utah’s Republican-controlled House voted Friday to pass a sweeping proposal to keep transgender people out of restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity in taxpayer-funded buildings, sending the measure to the state’s majority GOP Senate for consideration just three days after the start of the session.

House Bill 257 aims to prohibit individuals from using gender-designated facilities that differ from their sex assigned at birth in government buildings, correctional facilities and domestic violence shelters unless they have undergone a transition-related surgery and legally amended the sex on their birth certificate.

The proposal would require new government buildings to include single-occupant restrooms and changing rooms while existing ones must be studied to assess “the feasibility of retrofitting or remodeling” facilities to improve privacy.

The bill, if passed, would make Utah the third state to adopt explicit restrictions on transgender bathroom use in buildings other than schools. A Florida law passed last year prevents transgender people from using facilities consistent with their gender identity in all government-owned buildings, and a North Dakota law restricts bathroom use in correctional facilities.

  • @oDDmON@lemmy.world
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    8711 months ago

    Uhhh, once the door closes, HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A TRANS PERSON IS IN THERE?

    Wouldn’t surprise me if they tried sending people with mirrors on sticks into johns, to save the children of course.

    • @grue@lemmy.world
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      1511 months ago

      They don’t. They’re just going to use it as an excuse to harass and persecute a whole bunch of masculine-looking cis women.

    • Kairos
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      911 months ago

      There’s a post I saw about a transgender (I forgot which way let’s just say woman) went into the men’s bathroom and someone (or multiple people) thought she was a trans man and beat her up, DESPITE HER DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE LAW SAID.

    • Midnight Wolf
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      511 months ago

      Republicans smashing through the wall like Kool-aid man OH YEAH!

    • @Vespair@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Looking for holes in conservative logic is like trying to find water in the ocean.

    • cmat273
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      311 months ago

      My guess is some random transphobe calls the police on you and that’s that

  • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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    8411 months ago

    A long time ago I was asked by a friend my opinion of transgender people using their restroom that corresponds to their true gender (the one that does not correspond to their birth sex). My answer was this:

    I don’t give a fuck who you are, I don’t wanna shit next to you. All bathrooms should be individual, floor to ceiling walls, so I can shit in peace.

    The real ban should be on group shitting.

    • @eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      1611 months ago

      Counterpoint: the public communal toilets in Rome were important locations for grassroots political organizing.

      (But yeah, going to European office buildings and getting a fully enclosed shitter was pretty nice.

      • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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        1511 months ago

        Countercounterpoint: we have the internet now.

        I just want us to fart freely. Maybe we would all be better people if we were not filled with hot air.

        • @eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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          811 months ago

          Counterpoint : the internet is mostly funneled through a very small number of companies run by regressive fuckheads, and can not be relied upon for free exchange of ideas that may endanger said regressive fuckheads.

          I agree on ventilation though.

          • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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            411 months ago

            Countercounterpoint: while true that the media does meddle, it still allow us to connect with individuals from vast distances to discuss opinions that aren’t just localized, and often biased.

              • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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                111 months ago

                Technically, you can also be kicked out of the bathroom… which is apparently where a bunch of dudes hang out—balls out, shooting the shit so to speak. Personally, it sounds a little homoerotic to me.

                Sign me up!!

                • @Mango@lemmy.world
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                  011 months ago

                  The bathroom doesn’t have admins or cameras looming over you.

                  Apparently you don’t really care ya horny little shit.

    • @eatthecake@lemmy.world
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      211 months ago

      The proposal would require new government buildings to include single-occupant restrooms and changing rooms while existing ones must be studied to assess “the feasibility of retrofitting or remodeling” facilities to improve privacy.

      Like this?

      • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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        1011 months ago

        Yeah but that’s not it. That’s “feasibility” that won’t ever be feasible. Mixed with hate. Also, it needs to be more than government building, because what does that solve? Not much.

        Let’s pass a law saying all publicly accessible bathrooms must be retrofitted or remodeled and until then, you can’t ban transgender people.

      • @tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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        311 months ago

        A man who identified himself as man.

        That’s a man, so technically that’s not the right restroom anyway and would not happen under normal circumstances.

        So, I’m going to assume you mean a transgender woman, in a woman’s restroom.

        No I wouldn’t have a problem. Why would I? Pooping is pooping. Perhaps add more detail to the scenario and I can give you a better answer.

  • @BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    4911 months ago

    I was going to go through YEARS of expensive and intense therapy JUST so I could go into the girl’s bathroom and RAPE people but I’ve been FOILED by this new law!

    • GladiusB
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      811 months ago

      Does making all bathrooms unisex help anyone? Or is that just dumb? I mean the plumbing from the toilets all go to the same place.

  • @randon31415@lemmy.world
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    4511 months ago

    If it looks like a man, sounds like a man, and pees like a man, it does not belong in the women’s restroom! Trans men look like men, sound like men, and sometimes even pee like men and this bill will force them to pee in women’s restrooms! If you want to keep bearded people out of the women’s restroom, you should have voted against this bill.

    • lazynooblet
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      911 months ago

      The law is dumb. But it does exclude those that have undergone transition.

      • 1ostA5tro6yne
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        2811 months ago

        not every trans person gets genital surgery, in fact the majority don’t. additionally, in many states your birth cert can’t be amended so then not even everyone who’s had genital reassignment may use the restroom legally. that bit is there specifically to make it sound halfway reasonable to the uninformed who think transition is a surgery.

        • lazynooblet
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          811 months ago

          The comment I responded to said “and pees like a man”, which is why I pointed out the exclusion.

          Whilst I am admittedly ignorant to transition definitions and American law I’m still able to sympathise on how trans people are seemingly being targeted for no reason other than political BS.

          I don’t understand the logic behind it. Who cares what sex people are under their clothes. What do they think is happening in the restrooms that needs fixing?

      • @31337@sh.itjust.works
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        411 months ago

        Why keep trans women without bottom surgery out of women’s restrooms? I assume all women’s restrooms have stalls, so no one would see it anyways. And why isn’t it about keeping vulva out of men’s restrooms?

  • toomanypancakes
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    3411 months ago

    In every state that passes a bathroom ban I think we should just piss on Republican lawmakers cars instead.

    We gotta go somewhere, fuckers.

    • 🗑️😸
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      1011 months ago

      I couldn’t agree more. I’m so sick of the projection from the right. Just because you’re a disgusting pervert doesn’t mean everyone else is!

  • @jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    3111 months ago

    Everyone involved in passing this law should be barred from working in government. We’re facing an existential crisis from climate change, an ongoing gun violence crisis, mounting wealth inequality, rising right wing extremism that’s already reached coup levels, and more, and this is what they’re spending time on?

    Three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.

    At least three republicans have some tattered remains of a soul, maybe.

    Let me take this time to remind all of you that Jury Nullification is an unavoidable part of our legal process. If you’re on the jury, you can give any verdict you want. You don’t have to show your work! So that means you can say “Not Guilty” for any old reason.

    Now, this can be used for Evil, like a southern jury not convicting a white man for murdering a black man. But it can also be used for good! You can nullify laws that are unjust. If someone is being charged for marijuana crimes, for an unrelated example, you can just say Not Guilty. They can’t do anything to you.

    So go forth and nullify, friends, any and all unjust laws. Tell your friends.

    • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      511 months ago

      A guide to jury nullification, which you can follow or not. I ain’t your papa.

      • Look it up
      • Don’t talk about it at or near a courthouse
      • Only nullify laws you think shouldn’t be there. Let’s keep murder as a crime for example
      • Never lie to the judge. If you are asked if you could convict a person for an unjust law go ahead and say “yes”. Because it is true, since it is something you COULD do. Nothing is physically stopping you therefore you could do it.
      • Don’t say that you are nullifing. Continue to argue the evidence and testimony are corrupt and non-convincing. No one in the jury room is going to be able to read your mind. Call the cop a liar, say the footage was shopped, etc.
      • No matter how often the judge tells you or the video tells you that you are to make a decision based on the fact not on the law just remember there is a reason why they are telling you this. They are terrified of what our power really means.
  • @inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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    2911 months ago

    House Bill 257 aims to prohibit individuals from using gender-designated facilities that differ from their sex assigned at birth in government buildings, correctional facilities and domestic violence shelters unless they have undergone a transition-related surgery and legally amended the sex on their birth certificate.

    My first instinct is to tear apart the logic of this, because this wildly doesn’t even adress the lived reality of many trans people. I pass as a cis woman and I can’t remember the last time I was misgendered, but I also am not getting surgery. Unless they start doing genital checks at the door, I don’t see how this would even affect me? Now I know I’m privileged for that, I’m just calling attention to an arbitrary metric that SURGEY makes using my bathroom acceptable, but it’s the only metric cis bigots can even comprehend.

    But I know logic isn’t the point, hatred is the point. Congrats Utah. You put meaningless discrimination on the books. Hate you too buddy.

    • @AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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      1411 months ago

      The new genital scanner tech proposed by silicon valley start up, shit-right, will allow public restrooms to determine who can and can’t use the bathroom within a 99.9% degree of certainty according to company spokesperson. With the use of AI enabled 3d scanners and cloud based large data set machine learning you will never have to worry about the gender of a person in the stall next to you again. A short 30 minute 3d scan will be taken by trained technicians, uploaded to the secure off-site cloud computing server where shit-rights AI advisor will analyze and determine the gender of the bathroom user within a 5 minute window. Finally a safe and non-humiliating way to use the bathroom. In case anyone hasn’t seen it adultSwim did something similar back in the day.

  • Blaster M
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    1911 months ago

    So, I guess, instead of his and hers, they just make a bunch of individual rooms? No gender bathrooms, just like you have at home. I mean, that would solve all the problems right there.

    • @spider@aussie.zone
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      11 months ago

      It would likely cause problems for the Utah House because it might force them to actually do their jobs instead of fixate on culture war bullshit.

    • 1ostA5tro6yne
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      611 months ago

      gay bars are light years ahead of everywhere else on this issue. there are two bathrooms. you pick one, go in, do your business, and hopefully wash your hands. and if you cause trouble you get your ass kicked because it’s not cool with anyone.

  • @SayJess@lemmy.world
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    1911 months ago

    The thing that scares me about these laws being passed is that they serve to embolden those who want to hurt us. MAGA uses this as a hate feedback loop. They are winning. Any anti-LGBT bill that passes is a W for them and a step closer to the edge of society for us. It’s not going to stop.

    • @cannibalkitteh@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      The thing that scares me about these laws is it serves as a blanket permission to use the power of the state to harass anyone who is gender nonconforming for simply going to the bathroom.

      Edit: And having to know the patchwork of discriminatory laws for anywhere I have to go in the country I live in is tiring as hell too.

      • PlasterAnalyst
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        311 months ago

        Turn it around on them. Make them show you their genitals before they go in the bathroom. Then have them arrested for showing you their genitals.

        • Turn it around on them. Make them show you their genitals before they go in the bathroom. Then have them arrested for showing you their genitals.

          Yes, I see no ways that a trans person asking to see peoples’ genitals in a public restroom in a jurisdiction that is hostile to trans people could backfire.

            • PlasterAnalyst
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              211 months ago

              Get some humongous intimidating gym bros to block the door and tell the tiny weak politicians that is they can’t beat them at arm wrestling to go use the women’s.

    • @aew360@lemm.ee
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      611 months ago

      It very well could stop, though. The MAGA movement is on life support. Republicans are losing state-wide elections and referendums. They’re losing previously red states and gaining none in return. In November, we have a chance to reelect a President who they call senile. One more loss to the guy who, in their minds, doesn’t even know where he is, would be the end of the national MAGA movement. But if they win, then it’s time to start panicking. Now is the time to organize against Trump

  • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    1211 months ago

    Oh I just read an article about a pastor getting into trouble for helping the homeless. Now I get to read an article about the Mormo–sorry Utah government using it’s power to attack the LGBT for existing. This is more aligned with my preconceived notions about Christianity.

  • @FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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    911 months ago

    Oh good. SLC is full of homeless folks struggling to survive, I’m glad our government is doing the important work to make sure bathrooms are safe.

  • Well, all 6 transgendered people in Utah gets fucked.

    Congrats you fucking backwards ass state for spending so many resources ensuring you punish a handful of people and leaving school children, vets, homeless, and other people to die.

  • @DrPop@lemmy.world
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    711 months ago

    When they say taxpayer funded do they mean state buildings? Under federal law this is discrimination and couldn’t apply to federal buildings.