Photo via Getty Images/Illustration by Jim Small | Arizona Mirror
Following in the footsteps of Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg to erase transgender people from American life, Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives are aiming to do the same thing in the Grand Canyon State.
On Wednesday, lawmakers voted 32-27 along party lines to pass House Bill 2062, which would enshrine a narrow definition of biological sex into state law based on a person’s physical reproductive characteristics.
Democrats who voted against the bill said it was an attempt to scrub transgender people from existence and urged Republicans to instead focus on the problems that voters elected them to solve, like improving education and making housing more affordable.
Rep. Stephanie Simacek, D-Phoenix, called the bill “absolutely disgusting” and told her GOP colleagues they should be ashamed that it was being discussed on the House floor.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lisa Fink, R-Glendale, would allow schools and other state agencies to bar trans people from using the bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identity. Trans Arizonans would also be banned from joining athletic teams or living in domestic violence shelters that reflect their identities.
Fink told House lawmakers on Wednesday that her bill was simply about defining the terms “man” and “woman” and “male” and “female” in state statute, and ensuring that data collected by the state is “biologically accurate.”
The freshman lawmaker didn’t mention her history of anti-trans advocacy. Fink is the president of the Protect Arizona Children Coalition, which advocates against what it calls “gender ideology programming,” and she’s one of the mothers who attempted to intervene in and defend Arizona’s transgender girls sports ban in the ongoing lawsuit challenging it.
Republican attacks on transgender people have been ramping up over the past several years and have seemingly reached a boiling point, with Trump issuing an anti-trans executive order on his first day back in office and another last week aimed at transgender athletes.
During a Feb. 5 debate of the bill on the House floor, Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, the only nonbinary member of the Legislature, said they were disappointed that not one Republican came to speak with them about the impacts of Fink’s proposal on the transgender and genderqueer communities.
“I’m not asking you to be a part of that community, but I am asking for you to understand where I come from,” Austin said.
Rep. Patty Contreras, a Phoenix Democrat and co-chair of the Legislature’s LGBTQ caucus, said that she and other members of the community would not be bullied into silence by “ignorant, hateful” legislation that she said goes against the teachings of Christ that many of her Republican colleagues say they follow.
“I’ll never understand how this government feels it necessary to bully those who are vulnerable,” Contreras said.
The proposal would greenlight discrimination against trans people in public spaces, but also open the state up to possible lawsuits from trans people who experience discrimination from state agencies that use the law to create their policies.
Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Lupe Diaz of Benson and Rep. Khyl Powell of Gilbert, said they based their votes on their Christian faith, with Powell adding that he thinks “we all believe in God.”
“I find it impossible to believe the concept that God makes mistakes,” Powell said. “Why can’t we humbly submit to his will that we are his sons and daughters? We are male and female, and we should be grateful for the privilege to live and to learn and become more like him.”
Austin pointed out that the legislators represent Arizonans of many different faiths, and cultures, some that recognize the existence of transgender people, including some Native American tribes.
On Feb. 5, Contreras told the other lawmakers that she attended a transgender day of remembrance at a local church last year to honor trans people who were murdered because of their gender identities.
“They were murdered because hate and discrimination are being taught and legislated in bodies such as this,” Contreras said. “Hate has no place in our society. Whether you recognize it or not, people are being killed because of bills like this.”
Contreras said she believes that legislation like HB2062 contribute to hate and violence toward trans people, and open them up to harassment, especially when the gender on their identifying documents doesn’t match their outward appearance.
Fink said that she did not think her bill would erase anyone or allow discrimination, claiming that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects transgender people from being discriminated against.
But with Trump in the White House and a Republican supermajority controlling the U.S. Supreme Court, the protections afforded to transgender people are far from settled, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The measure next heads to the Arizona Senate for consideration, where it’s likely to pass the Republican majority. But it’s headed for a veto from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has vowed to block any legislation that curtails the rights of the LGBTQ community, and who vetoed a similar proposal last year.
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