Following in the footsteps of Republican lawmakers in other states who've introduced legislation to criminalize transgender bathroom use, Virginia House Delegate Mark Cole (R) has introduced a pair of bills that would fine adults and children for using the "wrong" restroom.
HB 663 requires that all public restrooms and all school restrooms, locker rooms, and shower rooms to be “designated for use by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender designation.” It defines anatomical sex simply as, “the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s anatomy.”
HB 781 uses slightly different language instead of “anatomical sex.” It requires that all public restrooms and all school restrooms, locker rooms, and shower rooms be “designated for and used by individuals/students based on their biological sex.” It defines “biological sex” as the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s birth certificate and is identified at birth by a person’s anatomy or by a birth certificate amended in accordance with subsection E of § 32.1-269.” That statute does allow transgender people to change the sex on their birth certificate, but only if they’ve undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Under this ridiculous legislation, adults and children would be fined $50 for using the restroom that corresponds with the gender they identify as. But as is the case with previous introductions of similar legislation, there's virtually no way to enforce it without physically inspecting everyone's genitals.
Why do Republicans want to closely inspect and monitor the genitals and bathroom use of school children?
In any case, I'll repeat it as many times as it needs to be repeated: gender cannot and should not be reduced to a binary of genitals. To say that anatomy is the only determining factor is not sound science.
Not every transgender person chooses to undergo reassignment surgery nor should they be required to if they want to use the fucking bathroom. It's just a goddamn bathroom. Transgender people are not trolling for victims to assault in public restrooms and certainly not school restrooms. They just want to go about their business like everyone else and get the fuck outta there before some paranoid, homophobic asshole like Mark Cole decides they're a threat.
If this isn't "big government," what is?