The College Fix

Public colleges would be required to assign transgender students to dorms based on their biological sex

Responding to concerns about a transgender Resident Assistant in a Utah State University dorm, state lawmakers advanced a bill Tuesday to require that students live in university housing that matches their sex.

The bill, HB 269, passed the Utah House in a 59-13 vote, and now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, the bill would require all public higher education institutions to assign students a dorm room based on their sex “regardless of gender identity.”

One of the reasons lawmakers acted was in response to a recent online controversy about a male student serving as an RA for female students at a Utah State dorm, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The student identifies as a transgender female.

Republican lawmakers said they want to protect young women from harm, The Tribune reports:

Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, also said that the state shouldn’t wait until “something bad happens” to protect women.

Lee said that as the father of two girls, he wants to make sure his daughters and other female students feel safe and comfortable when living on campus. He is also currently running a bill to ban pride flags in K-12 classrooms.

He was joined by freshman Rep. Doug Fiefia, R-Herriman, who spoke of his three daughters, too, and said the bill is “not about discrimination” but protection.

However, Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Salt Lake City, who identifies as bisexual, opposed the bill, describing it as an attack on the “LGBTQ community,” according to the report.

“I have to tell you, the LGBTQ community is so tired,” Hayes said. “We are so tired of being scared every year when this body meets, because we don’t know how we’re going to be targeted. … But it’s starting to feel inevitable that it’s going to happen.”

Earlier this month, an online post about a transgender student in the dormitories at Utah State drew widespread attention.

The story originated with the mother of a female student at the university who asked to switch rooms after learning the RA in her hall was a male who identified as female, The College Fix reported at the time.

“We will not tolerate this any longer. In the session …, we will make it clear: female spaces are for biological females only,” House Speaker Mike Schultz wrote on X in response to the story. “No woman should ever feel compelled to relocate to feel safe and comfortable on our college campuses.”

The Fix reported more:

The controversy erupted after conservative Utah pundit Eric Moutsos posted on X that “Utah State University’s women’s dorm has allegedly allowed a ‘transgender’ individual as a ‘Dorm Mom,’ turning a supposed safe haven for female students into a nightmare of wokism that threatens the safety of female residents.”

He cited a Facebook post from “a concerned mother” outraged “because a man has now moved into her daughter’s all-women’s secure environment (Merrill Hall Dorm) without notice to the women students.”

“…After her complaint, the university, in a dismissive move, merely offered her daughter alternative housing, showing clear negligence towards the safety and privacy of the remaining female students in the dorm,” he continued.

However, university spokesperson Amanda DeRito told The Fix the school is just following the law.

She said the university does not have an all-women’s dorm, and a claim in the viral post that the transgender student serves as a “dorm mom” is inaccurate.

“For clarity, USU does not have all-female or all-male residence halls,” DeRito told The Fix. “… RAs are students who act as peer advisors, and both women and men serve as RAs and provide peer advising to other students assigned to them, including either men or women.”

DeRito said the university must comply with federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination in housing, adding, “Utah law specifically protects transgender individuals from discrimination in both housing and employment.”

MORE: Trump ‘dangerous’ and racist to keep men out of women’s prisons, professor says

IMAGE: Utah State University/Facebook

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter