Wisconsin bathroom bill draws strong reactions from all sides

A Wisconsin bathroom bill proposed by two Republican legislators would restrict bathroom and changing room usage by transgender students.

The proposed law, which is currently being circulated for co-sponsorship by Rep. Jesse Kremer and Sen. Steve Nass, would require public schools in Wisconsin to designate any multiple-occupancy restroom or changing room for use by a single sex. The bill goes on to define sex as “the physical condition of being male or female, as determined by an individual’s chromosomes and identified by birth by that individual’s anatomy.”

Despite the bill having yet to reach the floor of the Legislature, it has drawn strong reactions in both opposition and support.

Kremer says the bill protects the safety and privacy of all students; however, opponents claim it would put the state in violation of Title IX.

“This bill absolutely violates federal law,” says Harper Jean Tobin, the director of Policy at the National Center for Transgender Equality. “The Department of Justice and Department of Education has made it very clear that this would be discrimination based on gender and therefore violates Title IX.”

Elliot Bluma, a recent graduate of Pius XI High School, has personal experience with separate bathroom accommodations.

Bluma came out as a transgender man his junior year and socially transitioned in his senior year. He was told to use a closed bathroom on the second floor, for which he would need to request a key every time.

“The fact that I needed to be separated from everyone else and ask for key in order to use the bathroom was humiliating and dehumanizing,” he says. “I would just be sneaky about using the men’s room, because getting the key and returning it was impossible to do without being late for class.”

Bluma added that he only felt safe on the sixth floor, where the art classes were held, and he would occasionally skip other classes due to the anxiety not being accepted caused.

Wisconsin is not the first state to propose this legislation; however, similar bills have failed to pass in every other state they have been proposed.

Larry Dupuis, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, clarified that this violation could result in the loss of federal funds or leave the state vulnerable to lawsuits.

Kremer has acknowledged the potential for lawsuits but said the bill would protect individual school districts from being targeted and instead shift the responsibility to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Beyond the legality of the proposed legislation, opponents of the bill also question the purpose.

“This bill is an unnecessary solution in search of a problem,” said Megin McDonnell, interim executive director of Fair Wisconsin, in a press release from the organization.

Tobin says that there are no documented examples of transgender students committing abuse in a facility that aligns with their gender identity.

“There is no basis for this law other than to target transgender student for differential treatment,” she says.

Supporters of the bill believe that this eliminates special protections for transgender students to protect the privacy of students who are not transgender.

“We are certainly sympathetic to students who are undergoing gender confusion, but we don’t believe it’s appropriate for 99 percent of the students be subjected to potentially very invasive practices,” said Julaine Appling, President of Wisconsin Family Action, on The Joy Cardin Show.

Kremer, for his part, believes that this bill helps transgender students by requiring a school provide reasonable single-occupancy accommodations when a student’s gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.

Opponents of the bill do not agree that separate accommodations are beneficial for transgender students.

“It creates an environment that ostracizes trans students and encourages harassment and bullying,” says Tobin.

Tobin hopes that an increased level of awareness will put a stop to the introduction of bathroom bills.

“We hope to see these bills pass by the wayside once we address the lack of understanding about transgender people.”

In the meantime, the bill is likely to draw a contentious debate when it is officially introduced as interest groups for both sides prepare for a fight.

McDonnell says, “Fair Wisconsin is unequivocally opposed to this bill and our number one priority right now is to defeat it.”