US: Kentucky Senator proposes bounty for trans students in the ‘wrong’ bathroom
A Republican State Senator for Kentucky has proposed a bill that would offer students money if they report trans students found in appropriate bathrooms for their gender.
Senator C.B Embry’s proposed bill will ban trans students from using and toilet or changing room “designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present”.
It is similar to other bills being proposed around the US which limit trans students rights, but uniquely Sen Embry’s bill will force schools to comply by offering a reward of $2,500 (£1,650) to any student who reports a trans student violating the law. The money would be paid directly by the school and is intended as compensation for “for all psychological, emotional, and physical harm suffered”.
He believes trans people using appropriate bathrooms “will create a significant potential for disruption of school activities and unsafe conditions” and “will create potential embarrassment, shame, and psychological injury to students.”
Sen Embry said: “[Trans people are] certainly welcome to live their lives as they choose, if they want to dress as the opposite sex and the school is OK with that, that’s fine.
“I am very much in favor of strong anti-bullying laws that protect students no matter what the reason for bullying may be — fat or short, don’t speak plain, sexual orientation, whatever.
“I have a friend, and we can all say these things, who is a homosexual and she agrees that she doesn’t want men in her bathroom.”
A school board in Virginia recently banned trans students from using appropriate bathrooms.
