Wyoming Senate Passes Bill On Transgender Restroom Access

The Wyoming Senate has voted to approve a bill aimed at keeping transgender people out of women's restrooms, locker rooms and other private spaces.

House Bill 72, the Protecting Women's Privacy In Public Spaces Act,  had previously passed the Wyoming House. The Senate vote on Wednesday was 25-6.

Senators did amend the bill to remove public K-12 schools. Sen. Jared Olsen [R-Laramie County] said the reason for the amendment was because another bill specifically covers school restrooms. Olsen was apparently referring to Senate File 62, Restrooms In Publicly Funded Schools. That bill has already passed the Senate, and won final approval in the Wyoming House on Wednesday by a vote of 51-6 with five absent.

House Bill 72 would apply to other public facilities across the state.

Rothfuss: My Constituents Know How To Use Bathrooms

Sen. Chris Rothfuss [D-Albany County] argued that the bill is unneeded and a waste of time. "12 or 13 amendments, and I'm not entirely sure what we just did. And all of this is about bathrooms. Something that we have managed, I think, for as long as we have existed as humanity."

Rothfuss said local governmental boards all have the capacity to deal with bathrooms and changing rooms. He said the legislature has already passed several bills dealing with similar topics.

"This is bill I have lost count addressing our bathroom challenges," Rothfuss said. ''My constituents know how to use bathrooms."

Hutchings: Women And Children Are Being Harmed

But Sen. Lynn Hutchings [R-Laramie County] said "Times have changed. This is an important bill...women, children are getting harmed in these bathrooms across the country. This is an important thing, because some people really don't know what is the correct bathroom to use. It's harmful to these young women."

Sen. Stacy Jones [R-Sweetwater County] pushed back on Rothfuss' assertion that the legislature has spent too much time on bathroom bills. ''Are we really taking care of the issue? Have we taken care of this issue? I challenge that. I don't think we have.''

She went on to say "As a mother of a college age daughter, I don't think it's OK that they have to be in a locker room with a male changing."

The final vote on the bills was 25-6, Here is how the Senate voted:

Ayes: Barlow, Boner, Brennan, Crago, Crum, Dockstader, Driskill, French, Hicks, Hutchings, Ide, Jones, Kolb, Landen, Laursen, McKeown, Nethercott, Olsen, Pappas, Pearson, Salazar, Schuler, Smith, Steinmetz, Biteman
Nays: Anderson, Case, Cooper, Gierau, Rothfuss, Scott

You can here the floor debate on the bill in the audio file below: