Missouri mulls ‘bathroom bill’

Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

Missouri lawmakers are considering a “bathroom bill” targeting transgender children in public schools, despite a backlash that North Carolina faced over a broader law limiting bathroom use in all public buildings.

Republican sponsor Sen. Ed Emery said the goal is to protect students’ safety and privacy, but parents of transgender children told lawmakers Tuesday that the proposal would put their kids at higher risk of bullying and violence. The bill would require public-school students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates.

The proposal comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is working on a new set of directives on the use of school bathrooms by transgender students. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups have urged Trump to safeguard guidelines issued by President Barack Obama’s administration that allow students to use school restrooms that match their gender identity.

Emery cited use of high school showers and locker rooms as particularly concerning.

“We get in those situations, and you are inviting abuse,” Emery said.

But Samantha DeMichieli, a 13-year-old transgender girl who started crying when she told lawmakers about being bullied, said the prospect of using a different bathroom is “horrifying.”

“I’m not in the bathroom to do anything bad, to vandalize or to peek in the stalls,” she said. “I’m there to pee and wash my hands.”

Missouri is one of 14 states where limits were proposed this year on rest-rooms, locker rooms and other places based on sex assigned at birth, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Measures have already failed in South Dakota and Virginia. Texas’ “bathroom bill” has prompted the NBA to warn that the state could be overlooked for future events.