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This Virginia politician is trying to pass a bill restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms

This Virginia politician is trying to pass a bill restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms
This Virginia politician is trying to pass a bill restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms This Virginia politician is trying to pass a bill restricting transgender people's use of bathrooms

Robert G Marshall of Virginia has filed a bill which aims to restrict transgender people’s use of toilets in schools, at highway rest stops and other government buildings.

The proposal says “no individual shall enter a restroom or other facility designated for use by members of the opposite sex” in government-owned buildings.

This is similar to North Carolina’s House Bill 2 (HB2), known as the “bathroom bill”. This meant that transgender people who have not taken surgical and legal steps to change the gender on their birth certificate have no legal right to use the public bathrooms of the gender they identify with. The bill was first passed on March 23 of last year, and has been plagued with difficulties ever since. In December it came close to being repealed, but it controversially still remains law.The economic impact on North Carolina after the bill was passed has been huge, with many companies halting operations in the state, various states barring government employees from non-essential travel, and many major sports and musical performances being cancelled in response. In November of last year, Forbes estimated that North Carolina had lost $630m due to HB2.

The Washington Post notes that Marshall’s bill (called HB 1612) is similar to HB2, but is even more extreme in requiring school principals to “notify all parents if a student at their children’s school asks to be treated as a member of the opposite sex — whether by being allowed to use a different bathroom or being addressed by a different name or pronoun”.“Some guys will use anything to make a move on some teenage girls or women,” Marshall said. “Mere separation of the sexes should not be considered discrimination.”Marshall’s move has been met with widespread anger.

Many people think that he’s focusing on the wrong issues.

And others wonder if he hasn’t learned from the precedent set in North Carolina.

James Parrish, the executive director of Equality Virginia, said the bill “would cause immediate harm to our transgender community and economy”. He said: “With a billion dollar budget shortfall in our own state, a priority of the General Assembly should be protecting investments in transportation, education, and jobs, not unfairly targeting our transgender community.”Nor has the move been welcomed by other politicians. Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe said on Twitter: “I will veto any bill that legalises discrimination or harms our on-going efforts to bring jobs to Virginia.”

This is not the only controversial bill which Marshall is trying to make law – he also wants pornography to be deemed a public health hazard. Indeed a lot of the Republican’s opinions have been met with uproar – in 2010 he suggested that disabled children are God’s punishment for women aborting their firstborn.Considering the troubles North Carolina has had over the same issue, it will be interesting to see if Marshall manages to make any progress in Virginia.