(Photo by: Baptiste Raffin)

Kansas has become the first state to pass a law restricting the use of public restrooms to the “gender” with which you are defined at birth. Here is what you need to know as a college student.

How the Bill Was Passed – Under The Nose of Constituents

The bill, titled SB244, is a substitute bill. It started as an unplanned amendment to an original House bill, which was designed to prevent anyone from changing their sex from the one that they were assigned at birth on their legal documents. This would also render all currently distributed documents with the “incorrect” sex null and void. Because this amendment about bathrooms was completely separate from the original motivations of the bill, a separate substitute bill was created.

Furthermore, this bill went through a gut-and-go process, meaning the public had no time to react to its introduction. Even if you pay attention to your local politics, this bill probably hit the House floor before you could form any thoughts about providing testimony. Therefore, the representatives who pushed this bill through took away your right as a constituent to let them know what your thoughts are.

After five hours of filibustering and last-minute amendments from Democratic representatives, the supermajority of the House floor passed this bill onto the Senate floor, where their supermajority passed it onto the governor approximately four hours later.

The Details of the Bill

Any multiple-occupancy space not already designated to a single sex must be immediately designated as such after the instatement of this bill. Any single-use facilities do not require such designations, and this does not prevent buildings from creating new single-use facilities. This will be mandatory for all public buildings, meaning buildings that are owned or leased by the government. It does not include buildings leased by the government to a private entity as long as the lease was active prior to the instatement of this act. The bill does not specify what newly leased private entities will be required to do after the instatement.

Anyone may enter a facility opposite to the sex they were designated at birth for the following purposes: maintenance or inspection, providing medical or other emergency assistance, accompanying an individual who needs assistance using the facility, law enforcement purposes, providing assistance necessary in preventing a serious threat to proper order or safety, or providing coaching or athletic training during athletic events provided that you are a member of the coaching or athletic training staff. Additionally, a child aged nine or younger may enter a multiple-occupancy private space of the opposite sex if accompanied by an adult caring for the child.

Anyone who believes that their personal privacy has been harmed by an individual of the opposite sex accessing a multiple-occupancy private space designated for use only by their assigned sex may file a lawsuit against them. The individual filing the claim may seek the amount of $1,000 in damages.

It will be an affirmative defense to any claim brought that the defendant (person of the opposite sex entering the otherwise designated space) did not know that the multiple-occupancy private space was so designated.

Let’s Talk About What’s Missing

As someone who finds themself familiar with legal documents, I can find a lot of logical holes in this bill, whether I agree with its purpose or not. As previously mentioned, the bill does not say what private entities that lease their building from the government will have to do to be in compliance with the bill after it is enacted. It also does not allow any currently leased government buildings any amount of time, as designated by a timeline, to make the necessary changes to their facilities.

This bill also does not include a fiscal note, meaning that there will be no government funds set aside if a government building wishes to add or remove any of its facilities in order to comply with the bill’s guidelines.

Furthermore, I take a bit of issue with two of the exceptions made to the regulations. First, a simple google search will tell you that 10% of all assaults that young people experience every year are committed by coaches and athletic trainers. If the creators of this bill are truly concerned for the safety of children and young women, as they said during the House floor meeting, they would have taken this into account and added more restrictions regarding this statistic.

Additionally, this bill says that children ages 10 and older no longer need to be accompanied by an adult to the restroom. If a 10-year-old girl is in a new place with her father and needs to use the facilities, she must go alone regardless of her comfortability, and I think this furthers the case against this bill’s concern for child safety.

Finally, this bill goes as far as saying that if you are being tried in court in violation of this bill that “I didn’t know” is a suitable defense. I can’t think of any similar legislation that allows for this, or how this promotes the safety of women on any level. If a man with malicious intent enters a facility meant for women and then is taken to court in pursuit of seeking damages, they can simply say that they did not know the restroom was only meant for women.

What Needs to Happen Next

Everyone that has the ability to do so needs to be involved and know what is going on with their state government. It is a duty that you not only owe to yourself, but to your community. Whether you agree with the purpose of this particular bill or not, I believe that passing this legislation in a way that does not allow for public input is damaging to our state’s democracy and political processes.

Midterms are coming up. There are many ways in which you can register to vote, and if you are over the age of 18, I encourage you to do so. Pay attention to how your representatives and senators are voting on bills and how they are operating within committee proceedings. Do they truly have public interest at heart? Or are they too busy pushing their agendas without public knowledge to do what you and your community actually need them to do?