Legislation that would force transgender students to use separate restroom facilities from their peers, on March 23, advanced into the Illinois House Human Services Committee.
HB 4474, which state Rep. Thomas Morrison ( R-Palatine ) introduced, requires school boards to designate school restrooms as being for the exclusive use of persons of a single sex, and defines "sex" as the gender designation a person was assigned at birth. It also authorizes boards to designate a single-occupancy restroom or faculty restroom or changing facility that can be used by trans students if they submit a request in writing.
A high school in Morrison's district was last fall charged with discrimination by federal authorities when it did not allow a transgender girl to change in female-designated locker room facilities. Among the co-sponsors of HB 4474 are state Reps. Mary E. Flowers, Jeanne Ives and Camille Y. Lilly.
"Schools should be places where students can learn and grow without fear of bullying or isolation. HB 4474 is contrary to that vision and must be stopped," said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, in a statement. "It would stigmatize transgender and gender non-conforming youth by requiring them to use separate restrooms and locker rooms."
Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for ACLU Illinois, noted that such legislation would likely ask some school districts to both rewrite policies that are already friendly to trans students and quite possibly put themselves at risk of losing federal funding.
"This is really bad policy-making, and we are going to continue working tirelessly in order to defeat this," Yohnka said.