“Bathroom Bill” House File 2164:
Legislation on Unequal Access to Public Facilities
What The Bill Does
The “bathroom bill” is the designated name
for a bill that allows (or does not allow)
transgenders to use the bathroom or locker
room according to the gender they identify
with. This bill forces all people to use the
designated bathroom of their biological sex,
regardless of gender. It directly affects
transgendered people because they will be
forced to use the bathroom of the opposite
gender. The Iowa version of the bathroom
bill that was introduced stated that it was
left up to institutions and businesses on
how to handle the bathroom situation,
however, it removed the definition of
gender identity from the Civil Rights Act (HF
2164, 2018).
Similar Legislation in
Other States
The infamous “bathroom bill” that went
against these regulations at the federal
level was introduced in North Carolina
named House Bill 2. This bill was in
response to anti-discrimination ordinances
in regards to LGBT individuals that were
passed in Charlotte during February of
2016 (Tan 2016). On March 23, 2016, the
North Carolina General Assembly
proposed and passed the Public Facilities
Privacy and Security Act, which declared
that “state law overrides all local
ordinances concerning wages,
employment and public accommodations”
in line with LGBT individuals (Tan 2016).
What this bill gained attention for was it
“directed all public school, government
agencies and public college campuses to
require that multiple-occupancy
bathrooms and changing facilities be
designated for use only by people based
on their biological sex” (Tan 2016). That
is, if one was assigned as a “male” at
birth, but identified as a woman, they
must still use the male restroom. The
main argument of this bill was to “protect
the safety of women and children from
“radical” action by Charlotte” (Tan 2016).
Tyler Muich, Whitney Klein & Krystyna Kaminski
Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa-Social Work Program
For vs. Against
Those who have proposed and supported
the bills are affiliated with the Republican
Party and also focus on different agencies
that serve to better family life. For
example, those members for this proposed
Iowa bill stand with the Family Leader
Foundation. The mission of this foundation
is to “strengthen families, by inspiring
Christ-like leadership in the home, the
church, and the government” (Family
Leaders Foundation 2018).
There are some individuals who state that
this legislation would not discriminate
against transgender individuals. These
supporters say this bill affects women and
children, putting their safety as the
number one concern. The argument states
that “allowing transgender women to use
the women’s room would open the doors
up for sexual predators or peeping teenage
boys to use those protections as a
dangerous ruse to get into female spaces”
(Steinmetz 2015).
Restrooms that exclude transgender individuals
from conforming to their gender identity do not
make bathrooms any safer for cisgender
individuals, a term for people whose gender
identity is the same as the sex they were born
with. The Bathroom Bill is not necessary to
uphold privacy and comfort and also prevents
discrimination, molestation, and assault of any
kind. While many forget to consider, it would be
quite impossible and offensive to track an
individual’s sex each time before using the
restroom to make sure they are using the
assigned restroom (Levi & Redman, 2010). It
would also be very expensive to enforce the law
and provide companies the funding for gender
neutral bathrooms. Studies show, states who
consider passing bills like House File 2164 lose
millions of dollars and thousands of jobs per
year on loss of business (Transgender bathroom
bill could cost Texas $3 billion a year, study
says).
Status of Bill
House File 2164 did not make it out of a committee
for review. Therefore, the bill did not make it to the
House or Senate for further review and died.
What Can We Do?
As members of a community, we can fight back
against discriminatory legislation such as House
File 2164. Using one's voice in peaceful protest,
attending rallies and contacting legislators will
make your voice heard and impact decisions made
at a higher level.
Legislative Day
On February 20th, 2018, our social work policy
class traveled to the capitol building in Des
Moines, Iowa, to speak to state legislators about
our topic. We spoke to representative Sandy
Salmon in regards to the bill. She was in support
of this bill and did not listen to our concerns about
how this bill is discriminatory. This experience
taught us the importance of talking to our
representatives and voicing our opinion. Despite
our negative experience, we realized the
importance of lobbying and how we have a voice
in the politics of our state.
REFERENCES
(2018). Mission & Beliefs. The Family Leader. Retrieved
from http://thefamilyleader.com/our-mission-beliefs/.
Levi, J., & Redman, D. (2010). The Cross-Dressing Case for
Bathroom Equality [Abstract].
Tan, A. (2016, Mar 24). North Carolina’s Controversial Anti-LGBT Bill
Explained. ABC News. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/US/north-carolinas-controversial-anti-lgbt-
bill-explained/story?id=37898153.
Transgender bathroom bill could cost Texas $3 billion a year, study
says. (2017, April 17).
Retrieved March 19, 2018, from
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-
legislature/2017/04/17/transgender-bathroom-bill-could-cost-texas-
billions
Western New England . doi:34 Seattle U. L. Rev. 133 (2010)
Steinmetz, Katy. “Everything you need to Know about the Debate over
Transgender People and Bathrooms.” Time Magazine. Retrieved
from http://time.com/3974186/transgender-bathroom-debate/.
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