Arizona governor vetoes transgender bathroom bill, condemns it as ‘attack’ on children

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a bill that would have prevented students in public schools from using a bathroom or changing facility for a sex different from their gender assigned at birth. 

Hobbs said in her veto message on Thursday that she will veto every bill that “aims to attack and harm children,” as she said when vetoing another bill last month that would have restricted the use of a student’s pronouns consistent with their gender identity. 

“SB1040 is yet another discriminatory act against LGBTQ+ youth passed by the majority at the state legislature,” Hobbs wrote. 

Republicans hold a narrow majority in both the state House and Senate. The bill passed along party lines earlier this year. 

The legislation would have required public schools to establish a “reasonable accommodation” for students who refuse to use a multi-occupancy bathroom or changing facility designated for a specific sex and who send an accommodation request in writing. 

But the bill would not consider a reasonable accommodation to be providing them access to a restroom or changing facility for a sex consistent with their gender identity while people of the opposite sex “are present or could be present.” 

The legislation, if signed, would have also covered multi-occupancy sleeping quarters during a school-sponsored activity. The bill would have also provided anyone who encounters someone of the opposite sex in their bathroom, changing facility or sleeping quarters the ability to sue the school — unless the people are from the same family. 

Former Gov. Doug Ducey (R), Hobbs’ predecessor, signed legislation last year to ban transgender students from playing on a sports team consistent with their gender identity and prohibiting them from undergoing surgical gender-affirming care.