An Arkansas lawmaker on Wednesday
pulled from consideration her bill that sought to restrict bathroom
access to transgender people in many buildings.
According to CBS
affiliate KTHV, Republican Senator Linda Collins-Smith withdrew
Senate Bill 774, titled the Arkansas Physical Privacy and Safety
Act, from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Collins-Smith said
that she hopes the issue will be studied for the future.
Collins-Smith's legislation proposed
that bathrooms with multiple stalls in government buildings can only
be used by people of one designated sex, which would be determined by
the sex listed on a person's birth certificate.
Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson has
repeatedly voiced his opposition to the bill. LGBT activists had
compared the bill to North Carolina's controversial House Bill 2.
(Related: NC's
Roy Cooper signs deal to repeal anti-LGBT law.)
Collins-Smith said in a statement that
her bill would “protect the privacy, dignity and well-being of all
Arkansans.”