Apoplexy is near at the leftist blog ThinkProgress now that a Kentucky state senator has introduced legislation which would require children in taxpayer-funded public schools to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their genitalia.
Sen. C.B. Embry Jr., a Republican who represents a generally rural district, introduced the Kentucky Student Privacy Act (SB 76) last week.
The bill seeks to “ensure that student privacy exists in school restrooms, locker rooms, and showers” by requiring “students born male to use only those facilities designated to be used by males and students born female to use only those facilities designated to be used by females.”
The legislation is a response a spring 2014 decision by the principal at Atherton High School in Louisville to allow a male freshman student to use changing areas in a girls locker room and one of two girls bathrooms.
The principal, Thomas Aberli, permitted the unidentified male student to use facilities designed for girls because the student had declared that he wanted to be a girl. (RELATED: Louisville Principal Allows Male Freshman To Use Girls Bathroom And Changing Areas)
At least seven female students and around a dozen parents complained.
Principal Aberli responded to those complaints by preaching about gender identity and the high school’s non-discrimination policy (which did not, in fact, discuss gender).
ThinkProgress is disturbed because Embry’s bill would flatly prevent transgender students from choosing facilities “designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present.” Instead, the bill would require students’ bathroom- and locker room-visiting decisions to be based on their “biological sex.”
Transgender students who feel uncomfortable in the bathroom matching their genitalia would have options under the proposed law. Specifically, transgender students would be guaranteed “access to single-stall restrooms, access to unisex bathrooms, or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.”
Embry’s bill would also punish schools for allowing transgender students to choose bathrooms and locker rooms which don’t match their gender features. School districts would be required to pay a minimum of $2,500 to any student who suffers the indignity of changing or using the bathroom with someone who violated the law. Attorney’s fees and the possibility of more damages could also result.
Back in May, when the transgender locker room fracas was happening at Atherton High, Alliance Defending Freedom entered the fray on behalf of parents and female students who did not want to change with a boy around.
“What about those girls and their rights to privacy and safety?” asked Clint Elliott, an attorney representing the conservative Christian organization, according to The Courier-Journal.
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