Utah will prohibit transgender people from using bathrooms in public schools and government-owned buildings that align with their gender identity, after Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill on Tuesday imposing the restrictions.
In public schools, students can now use only a bathroom, shower room or locker room that aligns with their sex assigned at birth, with few exceptions. For government-owned buildings, including state universities, the restrictions apply only to showers and locker rooms.
The bill, House Bill 257, which passed the Legislature last week, set sweeping restrictions for transgender people.
Under the bill, also known as Sex-Based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying and Women’s Opportunities, transgender people can use bathrooms that match their gender identity only if they can prove that they have had gender-affirming surgery and have had the sex on their birth certificates changed.
In a statement, Governor Cox said “we want public facilities that are safe and accommodating for everyone and this bill increases privacy protections for all.”
Representative Kera Birkeland, a Republican who wrote the bill, said on X that the measure was intended to keep women and girls safe from male perpetrators who go into the bathroom to harm them under the guise of, and “at the expense of,” transgender people.
Opponents of the bill have said there is no evidence of such incidents. Ms. Birkeland countered that she had seen multiple police reports involving bad actors.
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