Anti-trans legislation limiting transgender students to using either the changing-room and restroom facilities of the gender they were assigned at birth or designated staff facilities, introduced by a suburban legislator Jan. 25, has been sent to a House subcommittee.
The bill, HR 664, was introduced by state Rep. Thomas Morrison ( R-Palatine ) and sent to the Human Services Committee, chaired by state Rep. Robyn Gabel ( D-Evanston ), on Feb. 8. From there, HR 664 was reassigned to the House Facilities subcommittee on Feb 16. The sole three members of that subcommittee are Gabel, its chair; co-Chair Patricia Bellock ( R-Hinsdale ); and openly lesbian state Rep. Kelly Cassidy ( D-Chicago ).
Activist Rick Garcia said that, while the bill appeared to be "dead in the water" for the momenta subcommittee assignment in many cases signals a bill will languish without further actionthe LGBT community could not rest on its laurels around the issue. "We do not want to give anti-trans people a platform."
This is Morrision's second attempt at such a bill. His first try, filed in January 2016, stalled in the House Rules Committee after being referred there the following April.
A high school in Morrison's district was the center of much controversy in late 2015 when a transgender student sued to be able to use the girls' locker room facilities. The Obama administration deemed that the school was in violation of Title IX regulations, placing the school's federal funding in peril. A deal was struck to resolve the issue in Dec. 2015, over the objections of many pupils' families, some of whom later sued the government and school board.