Transgender 'bathroom bill' clears Louisiana House committee. Here's what to know.

Apr. 8—Wading into a national debate, the Legislature on Monday advanced a bill to ban transgender people from school bathrooms, domestic violence shelters and other spaces that align with their gender identity — despite warnings the bill would put at risk millions of dollars in federal funding for shelters.

The House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure agreed to advance House Bill 608 by Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, to the full House. The bill, which would require facilities to set aside bathrooms and sleeping areas for a specific sex, resembles so-called bathroom bills that have popped up in red states across the country.

Proponents of the legislation, dubbed the Women's Safety and Protection Act, say it would protect the privacy of women and girls in vulnerable spaces. But advocates for LGBTQ+ rights say it would put an already vulnerable population at greater risk of harm.

Anti-domestic violence groups raised a new argument against the bill Monday: They said it would imperil domestic violence shelter operations.

HB 608 would "put domestic violence shelters out of business in Louisiana," testified Kim Sport of United Against Domestic Violence.

Such shelters in Louisiana get approximately $14 million, or 90% of their operating budget, from federal grants, added Mariah Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Federal regulations require that those shelters screen clients based on their gender identity, she said. The bill would put shelters out of compliance with those rules, she said, and the shelters could lose their funding.

Attorney General Liz Murrill sought to ease concerns on that point Monday, telling lawmakers she would take the federal government to court if it threatened shelters' funding.

"We need to go fight these policies so that we can have rational means to address the needs of the population," she said. "The federal government is in some places pressing these issues, and if they threaten the funding I'm prepared to defend it."

Murrill said she would ask Gov. Jeff Landry, who supports the bill, to add money into the budget for the shelters to "backfill" any funding loss. The governor's proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 cuts $7 million that was put in the budget last year to open new shelters, the Louisiana Illuminator reported.

If the bill passes, Louisiana would join Alabama, Arkansas, and at least eight other states that regulate which bathrooms transgender people may use. LGBTQ+ people and their families have often sued over those rules, and while federal appeals courts are divided on the issue, the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in.

In Louisiana, the issue's biggest supporters include powerful conservative lobbying groups and those who say they seek to shield women. "What is a woman? That question has been bouncing around," said Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum. "HB 608 answers that question. It protects women from unscientific and political applications of so-called gender ideology."

Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Baton Rouge, said she worried that without the bill, young girls would need to change in the same spaces as children assigned at birth as male.

Legislators also heard from members of the transgender community who warned the bill would harm transgender youth who would be forced to use spaces where they would be vulnerable to bullying.

"If we separate things by the way sex is defined in this bill, (a transgender girl) has to go change with the boys and is subject to some violence," said Britain Forsyth, a transgender man who testified against the bill. As a kid "I hated the changing room, and I really would have preferred just a private space for myself."

Wineski, the shelter advocate, said domestic violence shelters already have numerous safeguards in place and 24-hour staff trained to ensure victims' safety, and added that the shelters had not run into any safety problems associated with screening victims based on their gender identity.

(Both Sport and Wineski filed white cards, meaning they provided information about the bill but did not officially take a stance for or against it.)

The committee also shelved a bill that would have allowed Louisianans to vote on whether to remove from the state constitution language defining marriage as a union that occurs between a man and a woman.

Though the Supreme Court has recognized the right to same-sex marriage, members of the LGBTQ+ community testified House Bill 98 by Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, would signal acceptance and tolerance.

The committee declined to send the bill to the full House for consideration.

Editor's Note, 4/9/24: This story has been updated to accurately convey Britain Forsyth's comments.

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