Bathroom Bill Would Ban Transgender Facilities in Michigan Schools

LANSING, MI – A Michigan lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban transgender bathrooms in the state’s public schools.

Senate Bill 0933 was introduced by Republican Sen. Tom Casperson, who represents District 38 on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Casperson promised earlier in the session that he would introduce legislation similar to the controversial law in North Carolina if the state school board didn’t back away from controversial guidelines to make schools more welcoming to LGBTQ students.

Casperson’s bill comes nearly two weeks after a White House letter that was sent to every public school district in the country, providing guidelines on how transgender students should be accommodated and threatening a loss of federal funds for schools that aren't in compliance.

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Several states have passed so-called bathroom bills at the same time a national poll suggests a majority of Americans don’t fret much about which bathroom people use.

In the most high-profile bathroom bill case, North Carolina and the Department of Justice have filed lawsuits against each other over the state's new law that restricts bathroom and locker-room usage for transgender people.

An unscientific Patch Poll that asked the same questions as the CNN/ORC poll — “Overall, do you favor or oppose laws that require transgender individuals to use facilities that correspond to their gender at birth rather than their gender identity?” — showed the following:

• Strongly favor: 50 percent
• Strongly oppose: 40 percent
• Somewhat favor: 5 percent
• Somewhat oppose: 4 percent

Those votes reflect the views of about 700 readers.

If you didn't take the poll, there's still time Here it is again.