Republican senator says gender-neutral bathrooms will lead to violence from ‘dads like me’
Illinois senator Neil Anderson told lawmakers he would told lawmakers that he would “beat the living p—” out of any man who walked into a all-gender restroom with his daughter. S(Senatorneilanderson.com)
An Illinois Republican state senator has threatened to beat up “any guy” who enters all-gender public toilets after an inclusive bill was passed .
Illinois House Bill 1286 passed the senate by a 35-20 vote on Thursday (19 May) and will now go to Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker to be signed into law.
The bill that angered Neil Anderson would give – but not require – businesses and public institutions the option to create all-gender, multiple-occupancy toilets that must include lockable floor-to-ceiling dividers, instead of urinals.
During a debate of the Democrat-led bill, Anderson told lawmakers that he would “beat the living p**s” out of any man who walked into a toilet with his daughter.
“This is gonna cause violence, and it’s gonna cause violence from dads like me,” he added, according to the Chicago Sun*Times.
Openly gay fellow senator Mike Simmons was quick to condemn his colleague’s words, calling for his aggressive comments to be removed from the record.
“I wouldn’t want a single person in the state to read that record and think tanybody here would come after them if they would do something so mundane as to use the bathroom, a simple call of nature,” Democrat Simmons said.
He added that the legislation had been called for by hundreds of constituents in a bid to bring the state into the 21st century.
A law in the midwestern state already enables businesses to create single-occupancy toilets for all-genders.
At the beginning of the month, Illinois reinforced its stance to support LGBTQ+ rights by passing landmark legislation to end book bans, a feat deemed a “triumph for our democracy” by governor Pritzker.
Proposed by secretary of state Alexi Giannoulias, the law will rescind public funding from boards that choose to censor books due to their “origin, background or views of those contributing to their creation.”
Recently, the parent of an Illinois middle school pupil issued a police report against teacher Sarah Bonner who made a non-fiction LGBTQ+ book, This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson, available to her eighth-grade class.
Bonner has since resigned.
PinkNews has contacted Neil Anderson for comment.
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