Trans people could be sued for using the bathroom under proposed Montana bill
Trans people could be sued for using the bathroom under a proposed Montana bill. (Getty)
Montana looks set to be the first state this year to hold an anti-trans state legislative meeting, with a bill to restrict trans people’s use of single-sex spaces in publicly owned venues.
House Bill 121 was introduced by Republican Kerri Seekins-Crowe, who once said she would rather see her child take their own life than be trans. It seeks to make access to “multi-occupancy” spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and sleeping quarters in public buildings, based on biological sex.
It would cover any “building owned or leased by a public agency… and that is open to the public”, including libraries, museums, schools, hospitals, universities, Montanaās state Capitol and courthouses.
The “provide privacy in certain restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters” bill would also allow people to sue any trans person using one of the facilities for up to two years afterwards. There would be an exception for anyone performing or undertaking custodial services or maintenance, medical assistance, law enforcement assistance or providing aid during a natural disaster or declared emergency.
The bill comes after Montana Republicans tried to ban transgender state representative Zooey Zephyr from using the women’s toilets in the Capitol building. Proposed by Republican Jerry Schillinger, the policy sought to require lawmakers to use facilities that matched the sex they were assigned at birth. The measure fell at the first hurdle after a house committee vote.
āIām happy to see that this proposed ban failed and am grateful for my colleagues ā particularly my Republican colleagues ā who recognised this as a distraction from the work we were elected to do,ā Zephyr said.
However, on a national level, South Carolina representative Nancy Mace succeeding in barring the first openly trans congresswoman, Sarah McBride, from using the women’s toilet in the US Capitol.
Despite not being voted on, Mace’s resolution was passed on 20 November, which marked Trans Day of Remembrance, and took effect this month.
McBride condemned the ban as a āblatant attempt from right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facingā.
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