
State Representative Lisa Fink speaking with attendees on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives on opening day of the 57th legislature in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
In the shadow of federal actions taken against transgender Americans since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Republicans in Arizona’s state legislature continue to advance bills that make life harder for any person who identifies outside of the cisgender norm.
Just hours after taking the oath of office, Trump signed an executive order incorrectly conflating gender and sex by stating that male and female would be the only genders recognized by the US government, among a slew of other actions inhibiting how LGBTQ Americans live their daily lives.
Locally, Glendale Republican Rep. Lisa Fink’s House Bill 2062, called the “Arizona Sex-Based Terms Act,” mirrors the president’s misinformation on the subjects of gender and sex. If signed into law, Fink’s bill would require that sex be defined as only “male” or “female,” prohibits governmental recognition of gender identity, and scrubs the existence of transgender, nonbinary, or intersex Arizonans from public record.
The bill would also allow single-sex restrooms in public spaces to prohibit members of the opposite sex from entering, something legislative attorneys warned could violate the 14th Amendment.
The bill, which passed along party lines through two House committees, is nearly identical to one proposed last year that was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D—Tucson, said the bill imposes more regulation and control on the basis of sex, instead of making defining sex more simple, as Fink conflated it to be.
“Any person who is transgender, nonbinary, intersex—it’s not easy for them to get up every day and step through a world that is not designed for them,” said Stahl Hamilton.
Rep. Lorena Austin, D—Mesa, who is the nation’s first nonbinary legislator, would be directly impacted by the legislation; the Copper Courier contacted them for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
Rep. Betty Villegas, D—Tucson, attempted to introduce a rewrite of the bill, known as a “strike everything” amendment, which would have replaced Fink’s proposal with comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in regard to housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service.
The amendment would have added “sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression” to the definition of those protected by anti-discrimination laws, but it was rejected without consideration by the Republican majority.
What Villegas attempted to create is something known as a statewide nondiscrimination law. It would provide LGBTQ Arizonans the same protections in place that prohibit discrimination based on age, sex, or race. Similar ordinances have been at the local level in at least ten cities across the state and provide protections for over half of Arizona’s 7.2 million residents.
47% of LGBTQ workers have experienced harassment or discrimination at work at some point in their lives, and 33% of LGBTQ employees have left a job because of how they were treated by their employer, according to a UCLA study.
Nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ people have reported experiencing discrimination in their personal lives, according to a study from the Center for American Progress.
Protection from employment discrimination is critically important for the trans community, said Abby Jensen, an attorney and a member of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Arizona, who is also a transgender woman.
Almost half of all transgender people have been discriminated against in hiring or firing decisions, according to Advocates for Trans Equality.
“If I can afford to buy a house, the fact that I’m transgender should not affect that in any way,” Jensen told The Copper Courier.
Fink’s bill polices understanding of sex and gender, placing people into categories without allowing room for anything outside of that, said Gaelle Esposito, lobbyist with the progressive firm Creosote Partners, who is also a trans woman.
Creating these rigid categories to define sex can inadvertently harm cisgender people who are viewed as “insufficiently feminine or insufficiently masculine,” such as a woman with a short haircut, or a man who crosses his legs, Esposito told The Copper Courier.
“It is about making being trans as logistically difficult as they possibly can,” Esposito said.
Christy Narsi, the national director of the Independent Women’s Network, said the Arizona Sex-Based Terms Act would prevent men who identify as women from accessing women’s spaces.
But, Narsi did not provide evidence that men undergo expensive and life-altering medical procedures to appear as a woman just to access women’s spaces, because there isn’t any.
“This bill has nothing to do with gender identity and everything to do with sex which is defined by chromosomes in a human body,” said Rep. Rachel Keshel R—Tucson.
But this framework excludes the existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people — who do exist, yet fall outside the definition of sex that Keshel describes.
Banning pride flags
Another proposal that seeks to remove recognition of the LGBTQ community from society is House Bill 2113. If signed into law, it would ban any flag other than the approved flags of the United States, POW and MIA flags, the Arizona flag, Arizona Indian Nations flag, first responder flags, historic American flags, and “blue star service or a gold star service” flags from being displayed on government property.
Pride flags, which were hung from Arizona’s executive tower for the first time by Gov. Hobbs, would be prohibited from being flown moving forward.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, said the bill’s intent originated from his military service, and it is not a freedom of speech issue, but a government speech issue.
“Government serves everyone, and its buildings should display only flags of universal or official significance,” Kupper said.
But the bill’s broad blanket description prevents all government employees from displaying any flag anywhere on public property other than what’s on the approved list, inhibiting their First Amendment rights, said Marilyn Rodriguez, a lobbyist for the ACLU of Arizona.
Rodriguez gave the example of teachers displaying other countries’ flags in their classrooms, or placing them on their cars — which would not be allowed under Kupper’s bill..
While Kupper said the bill is not intended to inhibit the freedom of speech of any one individual or group, Rodriguez said it would have exactly that effect.
Legislative attorneys recommended an amendment to the bill to limit its scope within the bounds of the First Amendment, but it has yet to be introduced.
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