Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a controversial bill on Monday that bans transgender people from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity in certain spaces. The governor announced the signing in a post to social media.
The Texas Women’s Privacy Act, S.B. 8, restricts transgender people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity in government buildings and schools, forcing them instead to use the bathroom designated for their biological sex.
The bill also bans women’s domestic violence shelters from providing services to someone not assigned female at birth unless they are younger than 17 and are the child of someone at the shelter.
The Republican-controlled Texas House voted earlier in September along party lines to advance the Senate’s bill, which quickly made its way to Abbott’s desk. After many failed attempts at enacting a similar law, Texas now joins 19 other states with some form of bathroom ban for transgender people.
The bill does not make clear how the restrictions will be enforced, but violations may result in civil penalties against the government agency or school in the amount of $25,000 for the first offense and $125,000 for the second offense. Each offense made after that will be treated as a separate violation.
Exceptions to the law are made for law enforcement and those performing custodial or maintenance work, or rendering medical assistance. Nonprofit news site The 19th reported that, in addition to those provisions, the law “aims to prevent Texas prisons from housing transgender detainees in alignment with their gender, a rule that could violate the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, which requires prisons and jails to place trans people where they believe they will be safest.” Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist on LGBTQIA+ rights at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said in a public statement, “It is unconscionable and unconstitutional to pass this bathroom ban.” “Texans, including the transgender community, should be able to safely use public facilities that align with our gender identities as a basic matter of respect, safety, and privacy,” Hall said. “Instead, S.B. 8 will encourage ‘gender policing’ by bad actors who seek to harass or harm transgender people — or anyone who may not conform to stereotypical gender roles in public spaces.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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