'Bathroom bill' passes state legislature

A bill to ban transgender people from using school restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity passed in the Louisiana Senate, 29-10.

During debate, New Orleans Senator Royce Duplessis asked Franklinton Senator Beth Mizell, who presented House Bill 608 to the Senate, why it’s needed.

She said the “driver of the bill” was an incident that happened at a Louisiana park restroom.

Duplessis responded by asking, “[t]hat restroom facility, was it labeled? Did it already have a label in terms of—”

“Yes,” said Mizell.

“Okay,” Duplessis continued, “so in that instance, what stopped that [incident] from happening? Nothing.”

“Nothing,” Mizell repeated.

Duplessis believes this bill is a cultural war issue meant to drum up unnecessary fear, adding “[w]e’re creating and further stigmatizing and making an issue bigger that really what it is. If it’s about protecting children, let’s protect children.”

Mizell, meanwhile, champions the bill as protecting women. She said if a biological man were to enter a women’s restroom, “it becomes an awkward, uncomfortable situation for a biological female who is not physically able to protect herself if the situation arose in that bathroom.”

House Bill 608 would also separate restrooms and sleeping quarters in prisons and domestic violence shelters. The bill awaits Governor Jeff Landry’s signature.