Latest news with #MarthaLawley
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
More states pass laws restricting transgender people's bathroom use
A transgender activist clasps her hands while Kentucky state senators vote in 2023 on a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. So far in 2025, at least eight states have passed or expanded laws restricting which bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use. () Nineteen states now have a law or policy banning transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity. About 1 in 4 transgender people live in states with some form of bathroom restrictions, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit research group that tracks LGBTQ+-related legislation. So far this year, at least eight states have passed new transgender bathroom laws or expanded existing ones. In March, Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a pair of Republican-sponsored bills restricting the use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings. The House bill requires public school students and anyone in a government building to use the bathroom or locker room corresponding with their sex assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identity, appearance or the gender on their legal documents. The Senate's bill, which requires public school students to use facilities that align with their sex at birth, was introduced after a local school board called on lawmakers to restrict bathroom use. SC senators approve K-12 mandate that 'a boy will use the boys' bathroom' Wyoming Republican Rep. Martha Lawley, who sponsored the House bill along with another one restricting transgender girls' participation in sports, called them 'commonsense measures.' 'As the first state to grant women the right to vote, we showed the nation that Wyoming leads when it comes to equal opportunity,' Lawley wrote in an op-ed she published online ahead of the legislative session. 'Now, we can lead again, ensuring our daughters and granddaughters can pursue their dreams with the same sense of fairness and security.' Earlier in the session, a local Wyoming basketball coach who is a transgender woman spoke against the bill because she said it would require her to share a restroom with teenage boys, WyoFile reported. Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia have also passed or expanded similar bathroom laws this year. South Carolina renewed its K-12 bathroom law this year as part of the state budget. The mandate — initially inserted into the budget last year during the Senate's floor debate — applies to multi-stalled school restrooms and places where students undress, to include locker rooms and gym showers. Such directives attached to South Carolina's state spending package — called provisos — are officially one-year laws. But they roll over from one year to the next indefinitely, unless legislators vote to take them out. There was no debate at all this year on the bathroom rule, which carries over into the fiscal year that starts Tuesday. A lawsuit challenging it was filed in federal court last November on behalf of a transgender middle school student in Berkeley County. Attorneys for the national nonprofit Public Justice have asked for the law to be suspended pending the case's outcome, but nothing has been decided. In Arizona, the legislature passed a bill in May that would have restricted school bathrooms and changing rooms, but Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed it, along with two other GOP-backed bills targeting transgender people. Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@ SC Daily Gazette Editor Seanna Adcox contributed to this report. Like the SC Daily Gazette, Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill prohibiting transgender people's access to 'female-only' spaces passes through Wyoming House
CHEYENNE — A bill prohibiting transgender people's access to women's restrooms, locker rooms and other 'female-only spaces' passed through the Wyoming House of Representatives on Friday. House Bill 72, 'Protecting women's privacy in public spaces act,' sponsored by Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, is one of several bills filed this legislative session that directly affect transgender people. Lawley's bill prevents transgender people from using any public 'female-only spaces,' including public restrooms, locker rooms, gender-assigned jails and single-sex schools. A few amendments were added to the bill during its second and third readings to help with the logistics of enacting this law. Lawley successfully added an amendment to allow local governments to provide appropriate signage and adopt policies for enforcement reasons. Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk, also successfully added a provision to the bill that would help small rural jails. Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, proposed an amendment that would protect patrons from harassment in the bathroom. She said she was worried about the potential harassment individuals could face if they don't look like the gender of the restroom they're using, she said. However, Lawley said the amendment was unneeded and could 'cloud' the intent of the bill. These civil causes of action already exist in the law, she said. Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland (2025) Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland 'It muddles what we're trying to do here in a very clear fashion,' Lawley said. Provenza pushed back, however, saying her amendment was not related to criminal or Title VI laws — it just protects people in the bathroom. 'I don't think any person should have to suffer substantial emotional distress or fear because they went into a bathroom,' Provenza said, adding this bill forces people to use a bathroom they don't feel comfortable in. 'People that don't conform to what your beliefs are about gender are still people.' Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, brought an amendment, adding another exception to the bill for the 'use of a multi-occupancy changing area, restroom or sleeping quarter designed for the opposite sex when authorized by the public facility for temporary use by male or female groups and teams.' Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne (2025) Rep. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne He said this amendment would allow smaller schools to temporarily change boys locker rooms into girls locker rooms, and vice versa, should the need arise during a sports game, for example. Lawley said the added provision was not necessary, however, since it's already provided in the bill. The Republican representative pointed to the part of the bill where it says this act would not apply to 'changing areas, restrooms or sleeping quarters that have been temporarily designated for use by that person's sex.' HB 72 passed the House on a vote of 52 to 8, with two excused. Votes against the bill included all six House Democrats, Nicholas and Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper. It will now head to the Senate for further debate.
