Alabama legislators continue debating school bathroom access.
A proposed bill would block transgender youth from using the restrooms that are consistent with their gender identity. Students would have to use the bathrooms for the biological sex on their birth certificate.
Cathryn Oakley works with the Human Rights Campaign. She said this bill is like the 2016 North Carolina bill that did not pass and attracted criticism nationwide.
“These bills are based on discrimination; they are based on misunderstanding and dislike of transgender people," she said. "Transgender folks are able to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity all across the country and the world. There are no safety concerns, this is simply about anti-transgender discrimination and animus.”
Oakley said that there is still harm done even if the bill doesn’t pass.
“That’s really damaging to be a kid who has to listen to people who are supposed to have your best interest in mind, who are supposed to be safe-guarding your future, to have those folks instead be fixated on hurting you, on subscribing to this antiquated, debunked theory in order to make you feel different and othered and less than,” she said.
Over 150 major U.S. companies have come together to announce their opposition to the anti-transgender legislation in Alabama. For more on this story head to APR.org.
