One More Time…

It seems like Republican lawmakers never give up. If you don’t succeed try, try again. Last spring Indiana Republicans introduced “Religious Freedom” and a bathroom bills, and both of them got shot down, well this coming season the Republicans are trying again.

Indiana bill targets transgender bathroom use
Indiana Business Journal
December 26, 2015
Associated Press

An Indiana lawmaker has proposed a bill that would make it a crime for transgender people to use public bathrooms and locker rooms that do not conform to their gender at birth, threatening to draw Indiana further into a national debate over transgender rights.

"We've walked through a doorway we'll never go back through. And we're going to have to address some concerns that are now facing us," bill sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jim Tomes said. "If you were born a man, then you are obliged to use the males' restroom."

Tomes' bill would send people to jail for up to a year and fine them as much as $5,000 if they were convicted of entering a bathroom that does not match up with their birth gender. Exceptions are made for janitors, first aid providers and parents accompanying children under the age of 8. The measure would also require public schools, including charters, to ensure students do the same, though students would not face criminal penalties.

So they upped the ante and you can end up doing jail time just for peeing.

The legislator said, “"not trying to single-out anybody or destroy anybody." But the LGBT community disagrees,

"That is the most disingenuous statement I've ever heard," said Camilla Taylor, of Lambda Legal, a national LGBT advocacy group, who noted that it singles out people who do not identify with their birth gender.

And if this bill passes it will put businesses and schools in conflict with Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.