Minnesota lawmakers propose protections for non-transgender students

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (Christian Examiner) – Twin bills were introduced March 9 in both chambers of the Minnesota legislature, proposing to overturn the Minnesota State High School League's recent decision to allow boys who think they are girls to play on girls' sports teams.

The bills also would require public schools to provide restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms for the exclusive use of either the male sex or the female sex, allowing for additional accommodations to be made if needed.

The Student Safety and Physical Privacy Act was submitted as SF 1543 in the Senate and HF 1546 in the House.

The legislation appears to have strong support among Minnesotans.

The non-profit Minnesota Child Protection League Action, which has been pressing state lawmakers to take action on the issue, reports that "90 percent of voters agree that students have the right to privacy" and that public facilities should "separate biological males and females."

The organization, which also pushed for strong anti-bullying laws, said the specific proposed state law "has broad bipartisan support from 76 percent of the voters: 94 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Independents and 64 percent of Democrat voters."

Renée Doyle, president of CPLAction, said in a press release the issue has energized Minnesota parents, saying they are "outraged" at the MSHSL board's cultural engineering.

"Over 10,000 calls and emails came into the MSHSL Board from all over the state," she said, "and people showed up in force for both MSHSL Board comment meetings."

"Our children are not guinea pigs, and we cannot allow them to be used as a social experiment," she said.

Public schools in Minneapolis allow students to use the bathroom of their choice regardless of actual anatomy, and public schools in Saint Paul are poised to implement similar policies which describe gender as an expression of mental and emotional identity and not a factor of anatomy or biology.