South Carolina trans students may be barred from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity after a new state Senate proviso passed April 24. The new rule requires students to use the bathroom of their assigned sex at birth and sleep in rooms based on their birth sex during overnight field trips, targeting some of South Carolina’s most vulnerable youth.
“A lot of times the lawmakers who push these types of provisos do it saying they’re protecting kids, but they’re not,” said Chase Glenn, executive director of Alliance for Full Acceptance.
The new rule is a provision of the newly proposed state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which in total is $13.8 billion. According to reporting from The State, the “Student Physical Privacy” amendment says public schools must adhere to the proviso for a year after the budget goes into effect on July 1.
Senator Wes Climer, R-York, was the one who proposed the amendment to the budget, adding it to the document in the hours leading up to the vote. When discussing the amendment on the state Senate floor, Climer used a trans female student in Rock Hill high school as an example of “men…using the women’s locker room.”
South Carolina state Rep. April Cromer, R-Anderson, has proposed similar legislation to the amendment in the past, and she told reporters at The State the amendment was “common sense” policy.
“This is common sense legislation — boys are boys, girls are girls, and you have to use the bathroom and locker room that lines up with your gender,” Cromer told The State in December. “This bill isn’t aimed to punish a group that is clearly struggling with their mental health. It is to protect young girls from sharing a locker room with their fully grown male coach…”
Democrats, including State Sen. Deon Tedder, said something like the amendment should be debated as its own legislation and not part of the budget.
“Letting it go through the committee process, and then allowing the body to have a full debate on it. But also allowing in the committee process for all stakeholders, those who are directly impacted by this type of legislation, to be able to be heard, to have their voices heard, to come and testify,” he said.
LGBTQ+ advocates like Glenn state while supporters of the proviso claim it protects children, it actually does the opposite.
“Trans students are a part of our school communities, and like other students, they’re just there to learn, graduate and prepare for their future,” Glenn explained. “They need to be able to use the restroom and changing rooms that match the gender they live every day without being singled out for discrimination and harassment. Point blank, this proviso puts transgender students in harm’s way and does nothing to create safer schools in our state.”