Illinois state Rep. Thomas Morrison (R-Palatine) filed legislation this week that would force transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to the sex assigned to them when they were born.
The bill, HB 4474, amends the School Code to require that facilities designate their facilities by sex, and mandates that students can only use the facilities of the sex that they were assigned at birth. It also puts into place a procedure wherein students can request use of single-occupancy facilities, or access to faculty bathrooms or changing rooms, if they do not wish to use their designated facilities.
The legislation effectively regulates how trans students can use bathrooms or locker rooms in their school. It follows a controversy in Morrison’s district during a protracted legal battle between a transgender student and Township High School District 211. After a long dispute, and a determination of discrimination by federal regulators, the district allowed the student, a transgender girl, access to a private portion of the girl’s locker room.
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Here’s the language of the bill:
Amends the School Code. Requires a school board to designate each pupil restroom, changing room, or overnight facility accessible by multiple pupils simultaneously, whether located in a public school building or located in a facility utilized by the school for a school-sponsored activity, for the exclusive use of pupils of only one sex. Defines “sex” as the physical condition of being male or female, as determined by an individual’s chromosomes and identified at birth by that individual’s anatomy. Provides that no member of the female sex may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been designated by the school board for the exclusive use of the male sex and no member of the male sex may use a pupil restroom or changing room that has been designated by the school board for the exclusive use of the female sex, with exceptions. Authorizes a school board to provide reasonable accommodations to a pupil to use a single-occupancy restroom or changing room or the regulated use of a faculty restroom or changing room if the pupil, if the pupil is an adult or an emancipated minor, or the parent or guardian of a minor pupil submits to school officials, in writing, a request to receive such accommodations and the pupil is a member of the male sex but does not identify as a member of the male sex or the pupil is a member of the female sex but does not identify as a member of the female sex. Sets forth a complaint procedure.
