Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday signed a bill into law that bars transgender students from using restrooms that do not align with the sex listed on their birth certificate, the latest in a series of GOP-led legislative efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights in schools.
The bill, which cleared the state’s legislature earlier this month, covers restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms. It allows superintendents, teachers and principals to be fined a minimum of $1,000 if they do not comply with the law, which applies to pre-K through 12th grade in public and charter schools. It goes into effect in late summer, Sanders’ office said.
The law requires “multiple occupancy restroom or changing areas,” be used by those of the same sex “as identified on his or her original birth certificate issued at or near the time of his or her birth,” the law says.
Accommodations must be provided for those who would be prohibited from using the facilities under the law, according to the bill, but those accommodations may not include “access to a restroom or changing area that is designated for use by members of the opposite sex to an individual while members of the opposite sex of the individual are present or may be present.”
“The governor has said she will sign laws that focus on protecting and educating our kids, not indoctrinating them and believes our schools are no place for the radical left’s woke agenda,” Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Sanders, told CNN.
“Arkansas isn’t going to rewrite the rules of biology just to please a handful of far-left advocates,” she added.
Republican state Rep. Mary Bentley, who sponsored the bill, said on Facebook that the legislation is “how we restore our biblical values in our Nation” and told CNN that it will “keep Arkansas children safe and comfortable in their…
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