Utah’s Republican-controlled House voted Friday to pass a sweeping proposal to keep transgender people out of restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity in taxpayer-funded buildings, sending the measure to the state’s majority GOP Senate for consideration just three days after the start of the session.

House Bill 257 aims to prohibit individuals from using gender-designated facilities that differ from their sex assigned at birth in government buildings, correctional facilities and domestic violence shelters unless they have undergone a transition-related surgery and legally amended the sex on their birth certificate.

The proposal would require new government buildings to include single-occupant restrooms and changing rooms while existing ones must be studied to assess “the feasibility of retrofitting or remodeling” facilities to improve privacy.

The bill, if passed, would make Utah the third state to adopt explicit restrictions on transgender bathroom use in buildings other than schools. A Florida law passed last year prevents transgender people from using facilities consistent with their gender identity in all government-owned buildings, and a North Dakota law restricts bathroom use in correctional facilities.

  • @[email protected]
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    3110 months ago

    Everyone involved in passing this law should be barred from working in government. We’re facing an existential crisis from climate change, an ongoing gun violence crisis, mounting wealth inequality, rising right wing extremism that’s already reached coup levels, and more, and this is what they’re spending time on?

    Three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against it.

    At least three republicans have some tattered remains of a soul, maybe.

    Let me take this time to remind all of you that Jury Nullification is an unavoidable part of our legal process. If you’re on the jury, you can give any verdict you want. You don’t have to show your work! So that means you can say “Not Guilty” for any old reason.

    Now, this can be used for Evil, like a southern jury not convicting a white man for murdering a black man. But it can also be used for good! You can nullify laws that are unjust. If someone is being charged for marijuana crimes, for an unrelated example, you can just say Not Guilty. They can’t do anything to you.

    So go forth and nullify, friends, any and all unjust laws. Tell your friends.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      Do it.

      But be quiet about it. Talking about it in the courthouse can get you thrown off the jury or into a bunch of legal bullshit.

    • @afraid_of_zombies
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      510 months ago

      A guide to jury nullification, which you can follow or not. I ain’t your papa.

      • Look it up
      • Don’t talk about it at or near a courthouse
      • Only nullify laws you think shouldn’t be there. Let’s keep murder as a crime for example
      • Never lie to the judge. If you are asked if you could convict a person for an unjust law go ahead and say “yes”. Because it is true, since it is something you COULD do. Nothing is physically stopping you therefore you could do it.
      • Don’t say that you are nullifing. Continue to argue the evidence and testimony are corrupt and non-convincing. No one in the jury room is going to be able to read your mind. Call the cop a liar, say the footage was shopped, etc.
      • No matter how often the judge tells you or the video tells you that you are to make a decision based on the fact not on the law just remember there is a reason why they are telling you this. They are terrified of what our power really means.