Three Republican members of the
Minnesota House have introduced a bill that targets transgender
students.
The Student
Physical Privacy Act (HF 41) seeks to “protect and provide for
the privacy and safety of all students enrolled in public schools and
to maintain order and dignity in restrooms, locker rooms, changing
rooms, showers, and other facilities where students may be in various
states of undress in the presence of other students.”
It defines “sex” to mean “the
physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a
person's chromosomes and is identified at birth by a person's
anatomy.” The bill would designate restrooms, locker rooms,
changing rooms and shower rooms for the “exclusive use by students
of the male sex only or by the students of the female sex only.”
The bill's authors are Representatives
Duanne Quam of Byron, Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa and Eric Lucero of
Dayton.
Introduced on Thursday, the proposed
legislation has been referred to the Education Innovation Policy
committee.
Republicans narrowly won back control
of the Senate in November and now control both chambers. Democratic
Governor Mark Dayton, however, is a strong supporter of LGBT rights.
Minnesota is among a handful of states
gearing up to debate the issue as lawmakers return to work.
Republicans in Alabama,
Texas
and Virginia
have introduced similar bills, and several other states are looking
at the issue.