North Dakota makes it illegal for transgender kids and adults to use bathrooms of choice

Transgender kids and adults in North Dakota won't be able to access bathrooms, locker rooms or showers that match the gender they identify with in places like college dorms or jails, under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.

Burgum's office announced Wednesday that he signed the bill the previous day. The measure passed the state House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.

Dorms and living facilities controlled by the state board of higher education are affected, along with correctional facilities for youths and adults. Restrooms and shower rooms will be designated for use exclusively by males or exclusively by females. Transgender or gender-nonconforming people will need to get approval from a staff member to use the restroom or shower room of their choice.

The governor's office declined to comment on the bill Wednesday.

News of the law signing came the same day Montana legislators barred transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from participating on the House floor as Republican leaders voted to silence her for the rest of 2023 session.

The punishment of the freshman lawmaker caps a week-long standoff between state House Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told colleagues last week, they will "see the blood on [their] hands" over their earlier votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.

The American Civil Liberties Union has said that so far this year, more than 450 bills attacking the rights of transgender people have been introduced in state legislatures.

Rep. Eric Murphy was one of three North Dakota Republicans who defied their party and voted against the bill when it was in the House.

"I don't try to be polarizing. I just don't think there was a need for the legislation," he said in an interview after the new law was announced. Murphy, a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of North Dakota, said he doesn't think there needs to be a law to tell school officials how to handle this issue.

Republican Rep. Jeff Hoverson supported the bill. "Why would you not want a men's bathroom to be for men, and a women's bathroom to be for women?" he said Wednesday.

Experts say gender is a spectrum, not a binary structure consisting of only males and females, and it can vary by society and change over time. Sex refers to biological characteristics, such as chromosomes, hormones and reproductive anatomy, which can also vary or change in understanding over time, or be medically and legally altered.

Last week, the governor signed a bill that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.

That measure also received veto-proof support from Republican lawmakers, although some Republicans did vote against it, alongside all Democrats.

Earlier this month, Burgum also signed a transgender athlete ban into law after it similarly passed the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities. In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill that would have imposed a transgender athlete ban at that time, but House and Senate lawmakers did not have enough votes back then to override his veto.