HELENA (AP) — Transgender individuals in Montana can not use bogs in public buildings that don’t align with their intercourse assigned at start after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed new restrictions into regulation Thursday.
The regulation, which takes impact with its approval, requires public buildings together with the state Capitol, colleges, jails, prisons, libraries and state-funded home violence shelters to supply separate areas for women and men.
It defines the sexes in state regulation primarily based on an individual’s chromosomes and reproductive biology, whilst a district courtroom ruling earlier this 12 months declared the definitions unconstitutional.
The brand new regulation additionally declares that there are solely two sexes, female and male, going towards a decide’s 2024 ruling that struck down that very same definition.
Beneath the regulation, transgender individuals can not use public restrooms, altering rooms and sleeping areas that align with their gender id. The regulation doesn’t clarify how individuals in command of public services ought to confirm somebody’s intercourse.
Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, the Republican sponsor, stated it was not meant to be exclusionary however to protect secure areas for ladies.
A transgender man who has undergone a medical transition to develop extra masculine options equivalent to facial hair, muscle definition and a deeper voice is now required by regulation to make use of the ladies’s restroom.
Thom Bridge/Unbiased Report through AP
Republican lawmakers swiftly authorised the measure regardless of vocal opposition from Democrats who frightened it might complicate every day life for 2 fellow lawmakers who’re transgender and nonbinary. Amongst them was Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the Missoula Democrat who was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues in 2023 for feedback she made on the Home ground.
Zephyr warned it might embolden some to police one other individual’s gender in public, which she stated might create hostile conditions for everybody.
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The regulation permits individuals to sue a facility for not stopping transgender individuals from utilizing a sure restroom or altering room. They will get better nominal damages, typically $1, and the entity may very well be required to pay the plaintiff’s authorized charges.
