In Response to the Anti-transgender laws passed during the 2024 Utah Legislative Session

The January 2024 Utah Legislative session saw the passing of an anti-transgender bill aimed at preventing transgender from using public restrooms. This law is impossible to implement and seeks only to spread fear and division. I attended a rally hosted by some dear friends and others to show that trans and queer people in Utah will never stand down in the face of oppression. I took these photos and wrote these words about the experience.

A law has been passed. Criminalizing me, my brothers, my sisters, and my companions who exist beyond this old and tired binary. In short, we are no longer safe while using the bathrooms of our choice, the ones that align best with our needs. A hefty sum or incarceration is levied at those caught breaking this new law. Many trans people already felt unsafe and ill-at-ease in public restrooms. Memories of reading headlines and hateful comments swim through our minds as we slide shut the cheap metal locks on stall doors. This law, codifies, institutionalizes, and empowers that fear. 

I exist as a cruel exception in this bill. A transgender person who, as of 9 months ago, has undergone a “primary sex surgical procedure”, and as of two weeks ago, amended their birth certificate to match their gender identity. These tokens of experience will act as defense in court, allowing me to avoid penalties for this “crime”. However, these will not protect me from being charged with a crime in the first place. Any person armed with assumption or knowledge of my transness can report me to the authorities for using the women’s restroom. They can also report any cisgender person for the same thing. This law only serves to widen the gap between trans and cis people. The most reactionary of transphobes will now feel emboldened, compelled even, to report anyone they deem unfitting of a certain gender to the authorities.  

If charged, I will be able to beat the case. Most people will not. My story represents such a small group of people in Utah. By passing this law, the state carves out a sliver of the population as legally-recognized trans people. The overwhelming majority of trans people are seeing their legal and civil rights wrenched away from them.  

We have been fighting back. We will continue to fight. We have to.