Depsite 'Herculean Effort,' WA Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill Fails To Make Ballot

SEATTLE, WA - For the second year in a row, a group trying to pass a so-called "bathroom bill" in Washington state failed to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. The group Just Want Privacy on Friday canceled its 3 p.m. appointment to turn in signatures, according to reports. The campaign needed to hand in about 260,000 valid signatures by 5 p.m. Friday to get on the ballot.

The initiative, I-1552, resembles other bathroom bills that have been proposed around the country. If it passed, it would've prevented transgender public school students from using the bathroom or locker room of their choice. North Carolina was the first and only state to pass a bathroom bill (and has since partially repealed it after national outcry and boycotts), although such laws have been introduced in 16 U.S. state legislatures in 2017.

In campaign material, Just Want Privacy alleged that allowing trans people to use the bathroom of their choice would be tantamount to letting men use women's restrooms.

"Unfortunately, despite a Herculean effort from a heroic team of volunteers, we were unable to gather enough signatures to get I-1552 on the ballot," Just Want Privacy communications director Kaeley Haver wrote in an email to supporters on Friday. " It has been over fifteen years since a volunteer team has been able to get an initiative on the ballot in Washington without millionaire funding. But we also knew that the overwhelming majority of Washington’s residents think it's inexcusable to allow grown men access to women's showers and intimate facilities. ... We will not stop working to reverse this dangerous rule and restore the safety and privacy of women and girls in Washington. Whether that means trying again next year or working with the legislature in the upcoming session will be determined in the near future."

Just Want Privacy drew controversy earlier this year after the group used the story of a woman attacked in a Ballard public bathroom by a man as proof that I-1552 is needed. Kelly Herron was attacked inside the women's bathroom at Golden Gardens Park on March 5 by a registered sex offender. Herron fought the attacker off and locked him in a bathroom until police arrived and arrested him.

Herron said she felt Just Want Privacy used her story in a gross and misleading way.

"I refuse to allow anyone to use me and my horrific sexual assault to cause harm and discrimination to others. All of us, including transgender people, are concerned about safety in restrooms or any place where we’re isolated and alone," she wrote in a statement sent to The Stranger. "But the fact is I-1552 would not have done one thing to prevent the attack on me. It’s already illegal to enter a restroom or locker room to harm someone, period."

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