LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday signed legislation banning transgender people in public schools from using bathrooms that match their gender identity, the first of several states expected to implement such a ban this year. a flood of national bills targeting the trans community.
A bill signed by a Republican governor makes Arkansas the fourth state to limit the ban to public schools, and bills in Idaho and Iowa also await the governor’s signature. And it could be followed by a tougher Arkansas bill that criminalizes transgender adults using public bathrooms that match their gender identity.
The Arkansas law, which won’t go into effect until later this summer, applies to multi-person bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and charter schools serving prekindergarten through 12th grade. The Republican-majority Legislature gave final approval to the bill last week.
“The governor said he will sign legislation that focuses on protecting and educating children, not indoctrinating them and believes that our schools are no place for radical left-wing agendas,” Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, said in a statement. “Arkansas is not going to rewrite the rules of biology just to please a few left-wing supporters.”
Similar laws have been enacted in Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee, although lawsuits have been filed challenging the Oklahoma and Tennessee restrictions.
A proposal to restrict transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice has resurfaced this year, six years after North Carolina repealed its bathroom law amid widespread protests and boycotts. More than two dozen bathroom bills have been filed in 17 countries, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“They single out transgender people for no reason other than dislike, disagreement and misunderstanding of young transgender people,” said Paul Castillo, senior advisor and student rights strategist for Lambda Legal. “And all school residents suffer because of these types of bills, especially schools and teachers and administrators who are facing real problems and need to focus on creating a welcoming environment for every student.”
The proposals include several bills proposed to limit the rights of transgender people by restricting or banning gender-affirming treatment for minors, banning transgender girls from school sports and restricting drag shows. Transgender people are also facing increasingly hateful rhetoric in state houses.
Another bill pending in Arkansas goes beyond North Carolina’s law by imposing criminal penalties. The proposal would allow people to be charged with sexual indecency with a child if they use a public bathroom or changing room of the opposite sex when a minor is present.
“It’s a flagrant message from them that they refuse to respect (transgender people’s) rights and humanity, to respect the rights of Arkansans and humanity,” said Holly Dickson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas.
A new Arkansas law requires schools to provide reasonable accommodations, including one bathroom. Superintendents, principals and teachers who violate the ban can be fined at least $1,000 by the state panel, and parents can also file private lawsuits to enforce the measure.
“Every child in our school has the right to privacy and feel safe and feel comfortable in the bathroom they should go to,” Republican Rep. Mary Bentley, the bill’s sponsor, told the legislature earlier this year.
But Clayton Crockett, the father of a transgender child, explained to lawmakers earlier this year how the same policy adopted at his daughter’s school is further marginalizing her.
“They feel targeted, they feel discriminated against, they feel harassed, they feel singled out,” Crockett said at a House panel hearing on the bill in January.
Opponents also complain that the law does not provide funding for schools that may need to build a single bathroom to provide adequate accommodation.
At least two federal appeals courts have upheld the right of transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. However, supporters of the bill cited a federal appeals court decision that upheld a similar policy in a Florida school district last year.
Arkansas’ measure won’t take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns for the year, which isn’t expected to happen until next month at the earliest.
Sanders signed the bill a week after he endorsed legislation to make it easier to prosecute care providers who affirm the gender of minors. The law, which also doesn’t take effect until this summer, is an attempt to roll back a ban on child care that was blocked by a federal judge.
Sanders earlier this month also signed a sweeping education bill that bans classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation before 5th grade. The restriction is similar to Florida’s measure that critics call the “Don’t Talk About Gay” law.