A bill that would allow Illinois businesses to build bathrooms that are open to all genders moved closer to passing last week. Still, a comment by a Republican state senator during debates Thursday is being condemned by politicians and activist groups.
On the Senate floor that day, state Sen. Neil Anderson claimed that mixed-gender, multiple-occupancy restrooms would inspire physical altercations, saying that he himself could be driven to violence if “a guy” walked into the same bathroom as his 10-year-old daughter.
“I’m telling you right now, if a guy walks in there, I’m going to beat the living piss out of him,” Anderson said as his supporters cheered. “So this is going to cause violence, and it’s going to cause violence from dads like me.”
Later in the meeting, Sen. Mike Simmons (D), Illinois’s first openly gay state senator, said that Anderson’s comments were so offensive they should be stricken from the record.
“I wouldn’t want a single person in the state to read that record,” Simmons said, “and think that anybody here would come after them if they would do something so mundane as to use the bathroom, a simple call of nature.”
Anderson, who assumed office in January 2015, did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Sunday night.
On Friday, AIDS Foundation Chicago, Equality Illinois and Pride Action Tank issued a joint statement denouncing “the violent language” used during Thursday’s debate. While the statement did not call out any lawmakers by name, the groups said that anti-trans remarks by politicians can lead to real-world consequences, singling out one unnamed state senator for advocating for “transphobic violence.”
“The violent language like that used by the state senator gives license to transphobic actors to harm trans people. Enough is enough,” the statement said.
The bill passed the Senate with a 35-20 vote, a decision the House concurred with on Friday. It would go into effect with Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)’s signature.
The bill would permit the creation of multiple-occupancy restrooms that all genders can use. The bathrooms would require floor-to-ceiling stall dividers with locks and a covering that would prevent others from seeing through the space between the stall divider and the door. The restrooms would not have urinals but would include at least one vending device for menstrual products and a station to change baby diapers.
The bill, which was introduced in January by state Rep. Katie Stuart (D), is meant “to promote the privacy, safety, and gender inclusivity of all Illinois residents and visitors.”
But some Republicans have denounced the bill. During a committee meeting last week, Anderson asked state Sen. Celina Villanueva (D), a bill sponsor: “Are they going to be offended if I leave the toilet seat up?” according to the Daily Herald.
During Thursday’s floor debate in the Senate, multiple Republicans voiced their opposition to all-gender bathrooms. State Sen. Chapin Rose argued that women could be sexually assaulted in the restrooms.
“If all you ladies want guys in your bathroom, be careful what you wish for,” Rose said.
Illinois has made restrooms more accessible in recent years, including requiring that all single-occupancy public bathrooms be gender-neutral in January 2020. Its new bill approving multi-stall, gender-neutral bathrooms is similar to measures passed in some California cities and in D.C. Other states, such as Arkansas and Florida, have passed legislation that forces people to use bathrooms consistent with the sex they were assigned at birth in certain public buildings.
Many Illinois Democrats voiced their support for the inclusive bathroom bill Thursday, saying the proposed law would make the transgender community feel safer.
“We need this bill because we are surrounded by states in this country that are proactively prosecuting and persecuting people because of who they are,” Villanueva said.
During a debate on the House floor Friday, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) said some Republicans’ comments were more threatening than the bill, the State Journal-Register reported.
“Y’all (Republicans) need to get yourselves together and stop being so obsessed where people pee,” she said, according to the paper.
