Topic: Arkansas bill would require transgender students use restroom ... biological sex

[Jessica_Rose]

Arkansas bill would require transgender students use restroom according to biological sex

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arkansas-bill-would-require-transgender-students-use-restroom-according-to-biological-sex/ar-AA16Y2eW?cvid=dd1e1318b2874be5b4e4a6f10606176f

Story by Sarah Rumpf (31 Jan 2023)

An Arkansas bill advanced by a state House committee would require transgender students to use the restroom of their gender assigned at birth, instead of using the restroom matching their gender identity.

"Every child in our school and each school has a right to privacy and to feel safe in their bathrooms at school," Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, said at a hearing of the bill last week.

House Bill 1156, sponsored by Rep. Bentley, would require public schools and open enrollment public charter schools to bar people from using a restroom that does not correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate. The bill applies to places at schools where people "may be in various stages of undress" around others, which includes restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms.

The bill also states that superintendents, principals or the administrative head of an open enrollment public charter school who are found to be in noncompliance with the bill will receive a 15% salary cut in the following fiscal year. If passed, the bill also states that parents of students who encounter a member of "the opposite sex" in a multiple occupancy restroom "shall have a cause of action."

[Jessica_Rose]

"Every child in our school and each school has a right to privacy and to feel safe in their bathrooms at school.

I agree with this 100%. Every child has a right to privacy and to feel safe. Forcing a transgender child to use a bathroom which does not match their presentation strips them of both their privacy and their safety.

Based on the number of these bathroom bills floating around this sounds like a massive issue. Odd that I can't remember the last news story I read about children being accosted in school while going to the bathroom.

Love always -- Jessica Rose