Legislation Proposes To Regulate Access To Restrooms, Locker Rooms

AUSTIN — Texas now has a “bathroom bill.”

The Lone Star State has joined Alabama, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington as states where legislation has been filed in an effort to restrict access to restrooms, locker rooms and other sex-segregated facilities on the basis of sex or gender.

On Jan. 5, Texas Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, filed Senate Bill 6, titled the Texas Privacy Act. The legislation, she said, would address “the personal privacy concerns of many Texans.”

The legislation comes after a May 13, 2016, “joint guidance” from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice “to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.”

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal agencies said, “schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status.” The federal agencies signaled their intent to treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX.

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