Utah Governor Bans Transgender Students From Dorms Matching Their Gender Identity
House Bill 269 will restrict trans students at public colleges and universities in Utah from accessing dorms that match their gender identity.
Trans students attending public colleges and universities in Utah will no longer be allowed to live in dorms designated for their assigned gender identity, thanks to a new law signed by Republican Governor Spencer Cox. Instead, students will be forced to reside either in dorms that correspond to their assigned sex at birth or in single-occupancy, gender-neutral dorms.
Prior to the signing on Friday, the ACLU of Utah strongly encouraged Cox to veto HB 269, also known as “Privacy Protections in Sex-Designated Areas.” Beyond expressing general concerns that the bill blatantly discriminates against trans and non-binary students, the ACLU also pointed out that the new restrictions are infeasible for many Utah campuses. “HB269 relegates transgender students to gender-neutral or single-occupant dormitories, yet these options do not exist at all public colleges and universities in Utah,” wrote Executive Director Brittney Nystrom, “As a result, students may be excluded from campus housing entirely.”
HB 269 is the third time Utah has passed a major restriction to trans rights in as many years, and Cox’s support for the law is a stark change in tune from his earlier positions on trans issues.
In 2022, the governor vetoed a bill that would have banned trans girls from participating in public school sports. At the time, Cox called the veto an “incredibly difficult issue” and wrote, “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what [trans students] are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.” The state legislature quickly overrode Cox’s veto.
Since then, the governor appears to have made a concerted attempt to align himself with the anti-trans policies of Utah’s majority-Republican state legislature. In 2023, Cox signed a nearly comprehensive ban on gender-affirming health care for trans children. Last year, he signed a bill that not only banned trans people in government-owned buildings from using the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity, but actively criminalized doing so.
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The trans dormitory ban is expected to take effect on June 1.
