Bathroom bill

A bathroom bill is the common name for either legislation or a statute that seeks to regulate access to public facilities–particularly restrooms–on the part of transgender individuals on the basis of either their gender identity or the sex they were assigned at birth.

Canada

In Canada the New Democratic Party (NDP) has introduced several bills that tried to include gender identity and gender expression among the characteristics protected from discrimination and eligible to be considered in sentencing crimes motivated by hate. These bills were frequently referred to as "bathroom bills" by their critics as they would have allowed transgender individuals to use the public facilities corresponding to their gender identity.

In 2009, NDP MP Bill Siksay introduced Bill C-389 to the 40th Parliament. The bill was passed by the House of Commons in 2011 but was defeated by the Senate.

Bill C-279, introduced to the 41st Parliament in 2011 by NDP MP Randall Garrison, was passed and sent to the Senate in March 2013. In 2015, Senator Don Plett introduced three amendments to the bill, one of which exempted public washrooms and changerooms from the bill's protections. The bill was also ultimately defeated in the Senate.

Garrison re-introduced the bill to the 42nd Parliament as Bill C-204.

United States

Arizona

A bathroom bill was introduced in Arizona, but it failed to pass after it was withdrawn by its sponsor, John Kavanagh, in 2013.

Nevada

On March 19, 2015, Victoria Dooling, a Nevada state representative, proposed a bathroom bill that would apply to public schoolchildren in the state. It later died in committee.

North Carolina

Main article: Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act

On March 23, 2016, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, a bathroom bill that applies to students at North Carolina state schools, into law. The bill also overturns an anti-LGBT discrimination ordinance that had been passed by Charlotte, North Carolina, prevents local governments in the state from enacting similar ordinances, and prevents cities from raising their minimum wages higher than that of the state.

South Dakota

On February 16, 2016, the South Dakota Senate voted 20-15 to approve a bathroom bill that, had it passed, would have been the first in the country to require public schoolchildren to use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth. On March 1, 2016, the governor of South Dakota, Dennis Daugaard, vetoed the bill.

Tennessee

On April 6, 2016, the Tennessee House Education Administration and Planning Committee, which is part of the Tennessee House of Representatives, passed a bathroom bill applying to public schools and colleges in the state; it must be heard by another House committee before the full House will hear it.

Texas

Two bills were filed in early 2015 by state representative Debbie Riddle, that would have made it a crime to enter a public restroom or locker room not designated for a person's sex assigned at birth. Two more were filed by freshman state representative Gilbert Peña that would permit a bystander to sue a transgender person who used a prohibited bathroom for up to $2,000 USD, in addition to being eligible for compensation for "mental anguish." Neither bill was voted on for consideration.

Wisconsin

In November 2015, Wisconsin held a hearing on a bathroom bill that would make the state the first in the country to require public schoolchildren to use facilities that match the sex they were assigned at birth. According to critics, the bill would also violate the federal government's Office for Civil Rights's 2014 statement that federal nondiscrimination law covered gender identity. The following month, the bill was revised to allow public schools to offer gender-neutral bathrooms.