Let the voters decide.
Via Helena IR:
The ACLU of Montana filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of a proposed ballot initiative that would require transgender residents to use public bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their sex at birth.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in District Court in Cascade County on behalf of seven transgender Montanans, the parents of a transgender 9-year-old and the city of Missoula. The Bozeman City Commission voted Monday to join the effort.
“This proposed measure legalizes discrimination,” said Alex Rate, legal director for the ACLU of Montana.
The ACLU and the plaintiffs argue the Locker Room Privacy Act would deprive transgender Montanans of equal protection under the law and violate their rights to privacy, dignity and due process.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the initiative unconstitutional and to prevent Secretary of State Corey Stapleton from placing it on the November 2018 ballot.
The Montana Family Foundation is sponsoring the initiative. Foundation president Jeff Laszloffy has argued that predators claim they are transgender to access public bathrooms used by the opposite sex.
“High school girls shouldn’t be forced to shower in front of a boy, even if he does think he’s a girl,” Laszloffy said in a statement Tuesday. “Boys shouldn’t have to change clothes in front of a girl, even if she thinks she’s a boy. It’s just common sense.”
Laszloffy said Initiative 183 offers solutions such as single-stall changing facilities.
While his arguments center on locker room use, plaintiffs focused on the initiative as it would apply to public restrooms.
“This morning, I walked down the hall and used the women’s restroom,” transgender plaintiff Roberta Zenker told those gathered at the Capitol Rotunda. “It was not lost on me that if I-183 passes, I would not be able to use that restroom.”