Bill regulating transgender Arkansans’ bathroom use heads to House...

Jessica_Rose · April 17, 2025, 08:04:38 AM

Bill regulating transgender Arkansans' bathroom use heads to House despite public pushback

https://arkansasadvocate.com/2025/04/16/bill-regulating-transgender-arkansans-bathroom-use-heads-to-house-despite-public-pushback/

By: Tess Vrbin (16 April 2025)

Senate Bill 486 would allow Arkansans to sue for damages if they encounter someone in a bathroom, changing room, shelter or correctional facility who does not align with the "designated sex" of the restroom. The bill narrowly passed the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Tuesday after 15 people spoke against it and no member of the public spoke for it.

"The intention here is to make it so that trans people cannot exist in public," said Maricella Garcia, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families' race equity director. "If you cannot use the restroom, you cannot go out in public."

Evelyn Rios Stafford, a Washington County justice of the peace and Arkansas' first openly transgender elected official, spoke against Act 619 two years ago and against SB 486 Tuesday.

Several opponents of SB 486 said not only that transgender women in bathrooms are not a threat, but also that the bill does nothing to prevent sexual violence or respect survivors.

"[This bill] exploits my trauma to push a political agenda that's rooted not in facts but in fear," Brittany Stockton said. "...The idea that predators are pretending to be trans to attack people in bathrooms is a harmful myth."

Multiple speakers also said transgender people face a higher risk of identity-based violence and harassment than other demographics.

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Bill regulating transgender Arkansans’ bathroom use heads to House...

Jessica_Rose