Anti-Transgender “Bathroom Bully Bill” Fails as Senate Strips Amendment

March 24, 2015

From the Fairness Coalition….

(Frankfort, KY) As the Kentucky Senate debates legislation in the waning hours of the chamber’s last working day, Senator C.B. Embry’s (R-Morgantown) anti-transgender “Bathroom Bully Bill” has failed in what appears to be the last-ditch effort to keep it alive before the session’s end.

After the Democratically-controlled House refused to hold a hearing on the “Bathroom Bully Bill,” which would bar transgender students from using the restroom of their gender identity, Senator Embry added the legislation as an amendment to unrelated House Bill 236, written by high school students to give them a role in helping choose new school superintendents. House Bill 236 easily passed the House and Senate Education Committee, but became stalled when Senators added the “Bathroom Bully Bill” and another piece of failed legislation, Senator Albert Robinson’s (R-London) “Student Religious Speech Bill,” as amendments.

Yesterday, hundreds of Kentucky high school students rallied against the amendments on House Bill 236 and this afternoon, Senate leadership introduced House Bill 236 without the “Bathroom Bully Bill” amendment but with the “Student Religious Speech” amendment. Following a contentious debate and several votes on germaneness, House Bill 236 passed 27-9 with the “Student Religious Free Speech” amendment but without the bathroom bill.

It remains unclear what the House will do with House Bill 236 before both chambers adjourn by midnight tonight, but almost all Senate Democrats voted against House Bill 236 citing the “Student Religious Speech” amendment. Democrats hold the House Majority 54-46.