It is far from often that I fête the actions of the Utah Republican Party. Even rarer is when the action worth lauding is inaction to avoid affecting the outcome of the state’s egregious lawsuit to retain their right to discriminate against gay families. But the quiet death of HB 87, is all that it deserves. The bill and the statements of its sponsor, State Rep. Michael Kennedy (R-Alpine), are insulting both to transgender students and their families.
The bill aimed to limit students to using bathrooms that “correspond to the student’s gender” according to their birth certificate or, if their birth certificate does not specify, according to a doctor’s determination after a “physical examination of the individual’s genitalia.” Kennedy also argues that his bill will allow students who are uncomfortable to use a separate bathroom. And therein lies one of the main issues with this bill.
Transgender students should not be forced to exist in a separate fashion from their peers. Scott Liebowitz, a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, told Live Science that children and adolescents who experience gender mismatch often “experience such high levels of distress with their changing bodies that it impairs their emotional and social functioning.” Forcing students to live according to their birth certificate rather than their own identification is only going to cause more distress in their already difficult lives. Setting them apart from their peers and marking them as “different” is only going to make it worse. It is often said that there few things as cruel as school children, and Kennedy’s bill sets up an already vulnerable minority for even worse treatment by their peers and authority figures.
While I am sure Kennedy meant his statement in a reassuring manner, declaring that this bill is intended to “make sure people are comfortable,” it comes across as callous, insulting and very poorly thought-out. If Kennedy has the comfort of all his citizens in mind, he should have never brought this bill to the table. This bill insults their lives and makes their choices moot and instead forces the opinion of Kennedy onto their everyday actions.
The worst part of this proposed law, however, has little to do with what it says or what it demands from everyday Utahns. What is so cruel and useless about this bill is that it was not done because of his constituents’ concerns. It was not drafted because there have been issues in Utah schools. Instead, it was drafted because a bill in California allows students to use bathrooms according to their gender preference and play on sports teams of their expressed gender, and Kennedy wanted to avoid seeing that happen in Utah. If Kennedy wants to be a strong representative for his constituents, if he wants to show how the Republican Party can attract more voters, he ought to concern himself with bills that deal with actual issues in Utah. Rather than worry about what the legislature in California is doing, he should focus on his own.
[email protected]