Gov. Jeff Landry has signed into law a controversial bill that will block transgender people from using facilities in schools, prisons and domestic violence shelters that align with their gender identity.
“I am proud to sign House Bill 608 which protects women’s safety and reinforces the very definition of what it means to be a woman,” Landry said in a statement. “We want women across the country to know that your privacy, safety and opportunities are valued and will always be protected in Louisiana.”
Critics say HB 608, dubbed the “bathroom bill” by opponents and panned by the LGBTQ+ community, harms the transgender community.
The law requires school bathrooms and locker rooms to be used based on sex assigned at birth. Similar restrictions will apply to bathrooms and sleeping quarters at prisons and domestic violence shelters.
“This bill will only create more fear in the transgender community about bathrooms,” Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, said after the Legislature passed HB 608. “As a trans person who utilizes public bathrooms ... I already get nervous about it.”
The law could also conflict with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which requires corrections officers to consider an inmate’s gender identity when making housing decisions so as to best protect incarcerated people. Transgender people face a higher risk of abuse among inmates.
Meanwhile, domestic violence shelter advocates have raised concerns that the law could jeopardize their federal funding by putting them out of compliance with federal regulations.
In an effort to address those concerns, the bill author, state Rep. Roger Wilder III, R-Denham Springs, amended the bill to clarify that shelters and detention facilities may have single-occupancy bathrooms, changing rooms and bedrooms that are not designated by sex.
Proponents of the law argue it will protect girls and women in vulnerable spaces. It is one of several proposals lawmakers passed during the recent legislative session that target the LGBTQ+ community. Other measures allow teachers to refuse to use a child’s preferred pronouns and restrict discussions about sexual orientation at school.
Both of those bills, House Bill 121 and House Bill 122, are awaiting Landry’s signature.