Now that we're in 2016, our attention is turning towards state legislation and what fresh hell state-level politicians are brewing for their constituents. It comes as no surprise that Indiana, home of one of last year's most widely contested RFRAs, is already making its mark in the new year with some more vile legislation.
From Think Progress:
If Indiana hopes to overcome its reputation for being an anti-LGBT state, 2016 is not shaping up to be a productive year. The state’s top conservative groups are suing to overturn the “fix” tacked onto last spring’s “religious freedom” bill in the hope it will allow them to discriminate against LGBT people in cities where that is prohibited. A Republican-proposed so-called LGBT nondiscrimination bill has so many religious exemptions it wouldn’t actually be enforceable. And now a new bill would actually criminalize transgender people for using the restroom.
Sen. Jim Tomes (R) calls his legislation “a simple bill,” and he’s not wrong. SB 35 does two things. First, it would prohibit schools from ever allowing transgender students from using restrooms that match their gender identity. Students would only be identified by the sex assigned to them at birth as determined by their anatomy and chromosomes, and that sex would determine which facility they can and cannot use.