Transgender activists have called in thousands of hoax reports to a Utah tip line in an attempt to hamper enforcement of the state’s new bathroom law.
The online tip line has received more than 10,000 submissions in the one week it has been up and running, and none of the complaints appear legitimate, said Utah Auditor John Dougall.
The tip line’s form asks people to report public school employees who knowingly allow someone to use the bathroom of the opposite sex.
Utah’s new law, which the governor signed in January, prohibits trans-identifying people from using the bathroom of the opposite sex in government buildings like public schools. Schools and government agencies that fail to enforce the new rules can be fined up to $10,000 per day for each violation.
The bill also establishes that the state’s legal definition of “male” and “female” is based on their reproductive systems rather than their gender identity.
Since Wednesday when the tip line was first launched, transgender activists have posted it all over social media. They have also posted examples of the fake reports they submitted and encouraged others to flood the tip line.
One of the activists, Erin Reed, a trans-identifying man, explained the hoax strategy to the Associated Press.
“There will be people who are trans that go into bathrooms that are potentially reported by these sorts of forms, and so the community is taking on a protective role,” Reed said. “If there are 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 form responses that are entered in, it’s going to be much harder for the auditor’s office to sift through every one of them and find the one legitimate trans person who was caught using a bathroom.”
The law’s main sponsor, Republican state Representative Kera Birkeland, stood by the tip line in the wake of the activists’ coordinated attack.
“It’s not surprising that activists are taking the time to send false reports,” Birkeland said. “But that isn’t a distraction from the importance of the legislation and the protection it provides women across Utah.”
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Schools have come under particular scrutiny in recent years for allowing trans-identifying male students to use the girls’ bathroom and locker rooms. Many female students, especially those who play sports and use locker rooms to change and shower, have expressed their discomfort with sharing these facilities with trans-identifying male classmates and teammates.
At least ten other states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee — also have laws dealing with which bathrooms trans-identifying people can use.