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As transgender restriction bills pile up, LGBTQ+ supporters stage cheerful protest

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As transgender restriction bills pile up, LGBTQ+ supporters stage cheerful protest

By Vanessa Hudson Katie McKellar
As transgender restriction bills pile up, LGBTQ+ supporters stage cheerful protest
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People rally in support of transgender rights at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the first day of the legislative session, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

This story has been updated with comment from Rep. Stephanie Gricius.

Potential attacks on transgender Utahns are already surfacing in the Utah Legislature, drawing more than 100 people to the Capitol steps to share their feelings in a cheerful show of support for LGBTQ+ rights on the first day of the general session, despite the frigid temperatures.

Rallygoers silently and peacefully entered the Capitol holding signs and wearing various flags to demonstrate their support for the trans community. 

Originally planning to yell and chant once inside the building, Angel, who goes by Veronika DaVil, a Salt Lake City drag entertainer and the organizer of the event, led the group back outside and said it didn’t feel appropriate to chant in front of the many children who were visiting the Capitol on field trips. 

But DaVil told the crowd that although it was a silent march, “we were loud and proud.” 

“There was so much love and support (in) there from the teachers and from the kids and they saw us,” DaVil added. 

Already, several bill files have been opened aimed at restrictions on trans people including one from Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, which would restrict which dorm rooms transgender students are allowed to live in.

The bill follows a viral social media post where a mother of a Utah State University student complained to the school that her daughter was sharing a common area with a transgender resident assistant. 

USU told FOX13 that Merrill Hall, where the student was living, is a co-ed building, and students are assigned apartments according to their reported gender in the housing application. 

Nick Arteaga, transgender rights strategist and organizer with the ACLU of Utah, told demonstrators there was “no incident or altercation to provoke the outrage” that seemed to follow the complaint about the transgender resident assistant at USU. 

“So just remember, even though it’s disheartening, we are so powerful just simply living our truth and being our fabulous queer selves,” Arteaga said. 

Gricius explains her bill regulating transgender housing

Gricius told Utah News Dispatch on Wednesday that her bill, HB269, isn’t meant to “target” transgender students, but rather “strengthen privacy” options by “requiring that students who live in sex-designated, on-campus housing are assigned to a housing unit that corresponds with their birth sex — unless they have amended their birth certificate and undergone a full sex reassignment surgery.” 

Gricius said the bill won’t outright ban transgender students from entering dorms that are designated for men or women. “They can still hang out, they can still study, they just can’t be assigned to live there.” 

Asked how her bill would apply to the situation at USU since it happened at a co-ed building, Gricius said HB269 would regulate rooms or apartments, but not entire buildings. 

“So they can still have a co-ed building, but what they would not be able to do is put a biological male and a biological female in the same room unless that’s something that’s been opted into by all parties,” Gricius said. 

If her bill was law today, Gricius said the transgender student at USU “would have been assigned to an essentially gender-neutral room.” 

“So each individual apartment would be sex-designated, with some designated as gender neutral, which this individual would have been able to use the gender neutral one,” she said. “And if biological females wanted to go gender neutral, they’d also be able to go into the neutral room.” 

Gricius added that she wanted to be clear that “this is not just about the USU incident. This is an issue that’s come up at multiple universities at different times across the state, and so the goal is really just to give clear guidance on how we’re going to handle those cases to ensure that sex-segregated housing provides privacy that the students expect.”

In response to criticisms that her bill targets transgender people and restricts their lives, Gricius told Utah News Dispatch, “I want to let them know I see them. They are people too and deserve to be  treated with respect.”

“But also, going to college can be a difficult time for people. It’s a vulnerable time for people. They might be living away for the first time, living with people they haven’t previously met,” Gricius said. “They have this certain privacy expectation that the least we can do is ensure that it’s met. So we’re not keeping these people out of dorms, we’re just changing how they are assigned to make it so all students can have that privacy that they’re expecting when they’re assigned housing.” 

Gricius said Utah lawmakers aren’t trying to “target” or attack transgender individuals, but “it’s just a different landscape that we’re  newer to navigating as a society.”

“We’re still working on figuring out where everybody’s lane is,” she said. “It’s something new that we have to figure out what to do with, so we’re going to do our best in a way that respects all people.”

Rallygoers said they were happy to show support and love for their community. 

Veronica Argyle, therapist at Flourish Therapy Inc., said it was worth braving the cold to support transgender people they know. 

“Visibility and knowing that you’re not alone is really important right now, especially when legislation and policy is trying to keep people from knowing that other people like them exist,” they said. 

Argyle said they wanted lawmakers to know that “we are their constituents.” 

“The direction that (the Legislature has) been heading is not serving us, it’s harming us,” Argyle said. “So I hope that they get to see us, that we’re happy, lovely, diverse people that also deserve rights.”

Republican leaders weigh in on LGBTQ+ issues this session

Gov. Spencer Cox told Utah News Dispatch in an interview Tuesday the only bill dealing with transgender issues he’s aware of so far is Gricius’ bill, HB269 — and that he’s supportive of that effort, which he described as a “tweak” to last year’s legislation restricting transgender access in sex-designated bathrooms and locker rooms in publicly-owned and controlled buildings. 

“We’ve had parents that are concerned and we’ve been very focused last year on making sure we have safe spaces for women. That’s really important,” Cox said. “We want to make sure that continues.” 

As transgender restriction bills pile up, LGBTQ+ supporters stage cheerful protest
Gov. Spencer Cox gives an interview at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the first day of the legislative session, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

Asked about HB252, sponsored by House Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield — which would ban the Utah Department of Corrections from “initiating” certain surgeries or hormonal treatments for transitioning prison inmates — the governor was noncommittal on supporting or opposing it, but he said it’s an issue that should be hashed out.  

“We had some issues with that over the past couple of years, and we’ve been trying to figure out solutions. Every state’s dealing with this. It’s kind of a mess right now,” Cox said, though he added he hasn’t looked at the specifics of the bill yet. “But I know we’ve been having those conversations.” 

On HB250, a bill sponsored by freshman Rep. Nicholeen Peck that would prohibit the Utah State Board of Education from disciplining teachers or other employees for using pronouns that conflict with a person’s preferences, Cox shrugged and said, “sure,” though he hinted he may have questions about whether it’s necessary legislation.

“I don’t know that that’s been an issue,” Cox said. “I don’t know anywhere where that kind of discipline is happening, I feel like school districts have that under control.” 

When pressed on Gricius’ bill restricting transgender student housing, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told reporters in a Senate availability he thought lawmakers did “a very good job” back in 2015 when they modified the Utah Antidiscrimination Act and the Utah Fair Housing Act to balance religious freedom and LGBTQ+ rights. 

However, Adams also said he’s open to changes — though he didn’t definitively say whether he supported Gricius’ bill. 

“We may have missed some loopholes back then, but I think we’ll work through it and hopefully have the same spirit of cooperation as we look through that process,” he said. “But I’ll look at the bill and let you know.” 

Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, told reporters she expected bills related to the transgender community and that she heard about the concerns with the transgender dorm bill. 

“This is the aftermath of HB261,” she said, pointing to last year’s bill that dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in schools and public offices. “This idea that we don’t have to look into it, be inclusive and respectful about those differences, creates this type of situation.”

Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Millcreek, said the goal of the caucus is “harm reduction.” 

“So that looks like and has looked like in the past: talking with the speaker, with sponsors, trying to convey why there are problems with them or problematic language,” she said.