Bathroom bill

A bathroom bill is the common name for legislation or a statute that defines access to public toilets by gender or transgender identity. Bathroom bills affect access to sex-segregated public facilities for an individual based on a determination of their sex as defined in some specific way, such as their sex as assigned at birth, their sex as listed on their birth certificate, or the sex that corresponds to their gender identity. A bathroom bill can either be inclusive or exclusive of transgender individuals, depending on the aforementioned definition of their sex.
Proponents of the bills argue that such legislation is necessary to maintain privacy, protect modesty held by most cisgender people, prevent voyeurism, assault, molestation, and rape, and ensure psychological comfort. Critics of the bills, including advocacy groups and researchers, argue that such legislation does not enhance safety for cisgender people and may increase risks for transgender and gender non-conforming cisgender people. The UCLA's Williams Institute has tracked prevalence of crimes in bathrooms since the passage of various protections for the transgender population and has found that there has been no significant change in the number of crimes. Organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have expressed opposition to trans-exclusive bathroom bills, citing concerns about their impact on public health and safety.
Moreover, Vox found that "there's no evidence that nondiscrimination laws — and other policies that also let trans people use the bathroom for their gender identity — lead to sexual assault in bathrooms and locker rooms" and Media Matters "confirmed with experts and officials in 12 states and 17 school districts with protections for trans people that they had no increases in sex crimes after they enacted their policies".
The film Growing Up Coy documented a landmark 2013 case in which the Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled in favor of allowing transgender six-year-old Coy Mathis to use the girls' bathroom at her elementary school in Fountain, Colorado. The case has been credited with setting off a wave of bathroom bills across the United States in the years following. In 2016, guidance was issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education stating that schools which receive federal money must treat a student's gender identity as their sex. This policy was revoked by the first Trump administration in 2017.

United States

File:US state transgender bathroom restrictions by maximum penalty.svg|450px|thumb|State-level enforcement mechanisms in the U.S. for transgender bathroom restrictions

Notes:
¹ Montana's ban is currently blocked and unenforceable by court orders in the case ofPlaintiffs v. State of Montana.

² In Florida, Montana, Ohio, and Wyoming, the bathroom bans don't just apply to government buildings—they also affect some private places. All other states with similar laws only apply them to government-run spaces like schools or public offices.

³ Virginia's bathroom restrictions aren't based on a law passed by the legislature—instead, they come from a state agency policy that schools are required to follow. As of June 4, 2024, the following nine Virginia school districts have adopted bathroom restrictions in alignment with the model policy: Chesapeake City Public Schools, Hanover County Public Schools, Lynchburg City Public Schools, Newport News Public Schools, Pittsylvania County Public Schools, Roanoke County Public Schools, Rockingham County Public Schools, Spotsylvania County Public Schools, and Virginia Beach City Public Schools.

As of July 1, 2025, bathroom restrictions on transgender individuals are in effect in 19 U.S. states:

Number

State

Effective date

Applies to

Maximum penalty

Exceptions

2nd

dts|2021|07|01

Jurisdiction

Federal, state and local laws govern toilets and other intimate spaces.

To pass federal laws, the government has to cite a national interest.
Each U.S. state is a sovereign entity that makes its own laws, which are secondary to federal law under the constitutional doctrine of federalism.
Each state may delegate powers to its local governments.

Federal or state agencies may issue regulations to clarify laws but not to alter or contradict them.
While some universities and large cities have built unisex toilets, most offer sex-separated spaces too. Building laws in some states require public toilets to be separated by sex.
On August 28, 2025, the U.S. Education Department cited the federal law of Title IX to complain about Denver Public Schools' all-gender bathrooms and its policy allowing students to use gender-specific bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.

Examples

In a landmark 2013 case, the Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled in favor of six-year-old transgender student Coy Mathis to use the girls' bathroom at her elementary school. It was the first ruling of its kind in the United States and one of the first high-profile transgender rights cases, garnering huge amounts of media attention.
In May 2016, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education released a joint guidance on the application of Title IX protections to transgender students. The guidance stated that for the purpose of Title IX, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education treat a student's gender identity as their sex. The guidance was followed by a formal "Dear Colleague" letter on May 13.
In October 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the case of Gavin Grimm, a transgender male student who was barred from using the boys' bathrooms at his high school in Gloucester County, Virginia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit had previously ruled that Grimm could use these restrooms, but the Supreme Court stayed that decision in August.
In February 2016, the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, adopted an ordinance which, it said, was intended to allow transgender persons a right to access bathrooms according to gender identity. The preexisting ordinance, in § 12-58 prohibited discrimination race, religion or national origin. In addition, the preexisting ordinance in § 12-59 banned discrimination based on sex but specifically exempted bathrooms, changing rooms and other intimate spaces from sex discrimination prohibitions, thus allowing separation based on sex. The ordinance did not ban discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. By the February 2016 amendment, the City Council added gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and marital status to the protected categories. It also deleted this provision that allowed separation based on "sex". In so doing, it essentially eliminated the word "sex" from the city ordinance, leaving the term gender. The North Carolina legislature reacted by passing the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. In addition to making other changes, the bill defined the issue of bathroom access as one of statewide concern, defined sex as biological. It required that all bathrooms be separated by biological sex. It did allow for business owners to apply for a waiver to make single-entry bathrooms all-gender/mixed-sex. Afterward, advocacy groups, celebrities, and businesses joined in a boycott of the state. Later, in a "compromise", the legislature agreed to repeal HB2, but it also barred localities from making any changes regarding bathrooms until 2020.
Shortly after HB2 was passed, in May 2016, in the last year of President Obama's presidency, the U.S. Justice Department sued North Carolina over its 'bathroom bill' in order to stop its implementation. Moreover, advocates, including LGBTQ rights organizations, have reported instances of businesses in North Carolina enforcing toilet restrictions on transgender customers.
In 2016, Mississippi also limited public toilet usage through the enactment of a law that protects religious beliefs, citing: "male or female refers to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth", which does not consider transgender and intersex people. Later, the Justice Department under Trump withdrew its opposition to this and similar state laws and policies. In 2024, Mississippi passed a bathroom ban that affects public schools.
, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, 515 anti-LGBTQ bills had been introduced throughout the US during the 2024 legislative session, most targeting transgender people. Bills currently being considered include Kansas SB 180.
In November 2024, Representative Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to ban transgender people from using bathrooms other than those of their sex assigned at birth at the U.S. Capitol, in anticipation of the swearing in of U.S. House member-elect Sarah McBride from Delaware, who is the first openly trans woman elected to Congress. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson then issued a ruling requiring transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to their sex assigned at birth within the House of Representatives.
On March 19, 2025, Marcy Rheintgen was arrested in the Florida State Capitol when she attempted to use the women's restroom in the building. She is being charged with possible jail time under a second-degree misdemeanor. In June 2025, charges were dropped and the case was dismissed as prosecutors failed to meet the deadline for filing charging documents.