Bathroom bill

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A bathroom bill is the common name for legislation or a statute that denies access to public toilets by gender or transgender identity. Bathroom bills affect access to sex-segregated public facilities for an individual based on a determination of their sex as defined in some specific way, such as their sex as assigned at birth, their sex as listed on their birth certificate, or the sex that corresponds to their gender identity.^[1] A bathroom bill can either be inclusive or exclusive of transgender individuals, depending on the aforementioned definition of their sex.

Proponents of the bills argue that such legislation is necessary to maintain privacy, protect what they claim to be an innate sense of modesty held by most cisgender people, prevent voyeurism, assault, molestation, and rape,^[2] and retain psychological comfort.^[3][4] Critics of the bills argue that they do not make public restrooms any safer for cisgender people, and that they make public restrooms less safe for both transgender people and gender non-conforming cisgender people.^[5][6][7] Additionally, critics claim there have been no cases of a transgender person attacking a cisgender person in a public restroom,^[5][8] although there has been one reported incident of voyeurism in a fitting room.^[9] The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics are all opposed to bathroom bills.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Moreover, Vox found that "there's no evidence that nondiscrimination laws — and other policies that also let trans people use the bathroom for their gender identity — lead to sexual assault in bathrooms and locker rooms" and Media Matters "confirmed with experts and officials in 12 states and 17 school districts with protections for trans people that they had no increases in sex crimes after they enacted their policies".^[14]

One bathroom bill, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act in North Carolina, was approved as a law in 2016, although portions of the measure were later repealed in 2017 as part of a compromise between the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled Legislature. Also in 2016, guidance was issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education stating that schools which receive federal money must treat a student's gender identity as their sex (for example, in regard to bathrooms).^[15] This policy was revoked in 2017.^[15]