Utah lawmaker introduces bill to define students’ gender for restroom use

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require school students to use restrooms that are consistent with the gender defined on their birth certificate.

State Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-Alpine, Utah), told the Provo Daily Herald that he introduced the legislation in response to a law passed in California that allows transgender students to choose the restroom of the gender in which they identify, as well as participate on school sports team according to their gender identity.

Kennedy says the bill would define gender under state code and not take into account “an individual’s own opinion on their gender.”

According to the bill, the student’s gender is either designated on their birth certificate or they will have to provide a signed document specifying their gender from a physician who performed a “physical examination of the individual’s genitalia.”

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The future of Kennedy’s bill remains uncertain, however.

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On Tuesday, Utah’s legislative leaders said the state’s attorney general’s office had suggested to the legislature that it may want to hold off on debating any legislation that deals with LGBT rights or marriage definitions as the debates may harm the state’s case in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dealing with Utah’s definition of marriage.

Kennedy said he hasn’t heard that this bill would be included in that moratorium but does see that it could be wrapped up into that category.