LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A bill has passed in the Arkansas Senate that would amend the criminal offense of sexual indecency with a child and would restrict which bathrooms some people can use.
Senate Bill 270 would expand the definition of sexual indecency with a child:
The bill would allow an adult to be charged with a crime if they knowingly stay in a public changing facility or restroom that is assigned to persons of the opposite sex when they know a minor of the opposite sex is in that room.
“What this bill seeks to do is if you have minors in the restroom, or in the dressing room, and stuff like that, then we're trying to prevent a violation of their privacy, I guess it would, so to speak, or exposing them to something they shouldn't be exposed to,” said Sen. John Payton.
Republican Senator John Payton says this bill would not make it illegal to enter a bathroom or changing room assigned to a different sex, but it does make it illegal if one stays in there with the knowledge that there is a minor in there.
“Most people from the time, they are old enough to communicate with their parents know what their gender is. Now I understand, in this day and age, some people are led to believe that they were assigned the wrong gender. But the X and Y chromosomes still exist if you need to diagnose it,” he said.
Jessica Disney, who is a transgender woman, spoke against the bill in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee asking how it would be enforceable.
"Do I need to wear my identification papers or a special symbol for all to see when I enter the restroom to help people identify me and who I am? Should someone call the police on me, am I supposed to allow an officer of the law to sexually assault me and feel me up so that I can be allowed to use the restroom?” she said.
It would be up to a prosecutor to file charges for someone violating this if it were to become law. Someone guilty of this would be facing misdemeanor charges.
Bill 270 will go on to the Arkansas House of Representatives.
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