Bill restricting school bathroom usage to biological sex passes Michigan House

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - Under a bill making its way through the Michigan Legislature, schools would be required to only allow people to use bathrooms based on their sex at birth.

House Bill 4024 passed the Republican-led House on Thursday and now heads to the Democratic-led Senate, which does not intend to advance the bill any further.

"We will not be taking this up. I wish the Republicans were as obsessed with passing a state budget as they are with kids going to the bathroom," Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said in a statement.

The bill, referred to as the "student restroom privacy act," would require schools that receive state funding to ensure that all multi-occupancy bathrooms and changing areas, including locker rooms and shower rooms, are only used based on biological sex. It includes narrow exceptions that would allow a person to enter an opposite-sex restroom, including to clean or render medical aid to a student.

Supporters of the bill say it will protect student safety and privacy, while those against it say it targets transgender students and invades their privacy.

What they're saying:

Bill sponsor Rep. Joseph Fox (R-Freemont) testified in support of the bill in front of the Committee on Education and Workforce last week, calling the bill "common sense legislation that addresses a growing problem in our educational system across our state, from preschools to public universities."

Several others backing the bill also testified after Fox, including Kristin Lee, the education director of Citizens Defending Freedom Michigan, who also called the legislation "common sense."

"This approach protects the reasonable expectations of privacy that families and students have always relied upon," Lee said. "This bill ensures that students can go about their day without confusion, discomfort, or fear about who might be coming into their private facilities."

The other side:

Those against the bill argue that it is discriminatory and violates rights.

"Transgender people should be able to use facilities and participate in activities that match who they are. It is right from a humanized point of view, but it is also required legally by statutory and constitutional bans on sex discrimination," said the legislative director of the ACLU of Michigan, Kyle Zawacki, who testified on behalf of the organization.

Brad Paquette (R-Niles), argued that the bill wouldn't be discriminatory.

"Sex, it cannot be changed. So, the way a child was born, their sex. They're just going to check that with the birth certificate," he said in response to Kyle Zawacki.

The chaplain for SHI3LD, an online ministry, said in written testimony that the bill would actually violate privacy — not protect it.

"On its surface, this bill claims to protect privacy. In reality, its implication would require the violation of the privacy it claims to protect. The enforcement of such an act mandates surveillance, humiliation, and exclusion, requiring schools to police the bodies and identities of children by forcing them to prove their ‘biological sex’ with original birth certificates, personal examination, or face discipline," SHI3LD chaplain Michelle Jackson wrote.

When Fox was questioned during the committee hearing about examining students to determine their birth sex, he said schools would determine student sex based on birth certificates, not physical exams. 

Another organization that opposes the bill, the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH), also argued that the bathroom law would endanger the "safety, wellbeing, and dignity" of transgender students.

Dig deeper:

The bill is one of several in Michigan taking aim at transgender individuals. 

Other bills recently introduced in the House include one that would amend laws to allow transgender conversion therapy for minors, while another seeks to remove gender expression from the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Before these bills that narrow in on transgender people were brought forth, similar bills were introduced that would allow conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors and would remove gender identity as well as sexual orientation from Elliott-Larsen. 

Those bills have been referred to committees, where they remain.

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