Mom of trans R.A. targeted at Utah State speaks against new bill to limit college dorms by biological sex

McKinsey Robertson watched as the excitement her daughter felt to be a dorm resident advisor was replaced, as swiftly as she unpacked her moving boxes, by fear, anxiety and sadness.

Her daughter, Marcie, was looking forward to making new friends with her roommates and the residents in the Utah State University building she was going to oversee this semester. But her identity as a transgender woman, the mom said, was instead met with mocking and harassment from those with whom she was randomly assigned to share a suite.

“Being afraid of someone different from yourself is no reason to bully them,” Robertson said.

Her voice shook as she read notes off her phone, speaking for two minutes Thursday before a Utah legislative committee that has responded to her daughter’s situation by drafting a bill that would specifically ban transgender students like Marcie from living in school dorms that align with their gender identity.

“I am appalled at the writers of this bill for holding the safety of other girls over the safety of mine,” the mom added. She and her daughter have agreed to the use of their names.

The measure, HB269, would require that dorms owned and operated by public universities and colleges in the state assign rooms based strictly on a student’s sex at birth — unless the building or room is specifically designated as gender neutral and students opt-in to live there.

The legislation from Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, was originally drafted to include exceptions for students who had amended the gender designation on their birth certificate and had undergone “primary sex characteristic surgery.” That mirrored the language from a bill passed last year that banned transgender Utahns from using public restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity in government-owned buildings.

But Gricius struck those exemptions from the bill Thursday in a stricter substitute that passed on a 13-2 party-line vote, with the Democrats on the House Business, Labor and Commerce Committee opposed. The measure moved forward to the House floor.

It was an immediate shot in the arm this session, which started just two days prior to the vote and is poised to once again see Republican lawmakers attack and unravel protections for transgender residents of the state through a slate of proposed measures.

“This is a very, very sensitive issue,” Gricius said.

The hearing on HB269 lasted for an emotional hour, filled with testimony on both sides, and ended with one person leaving the hearing shouting, “Trans lives matter” and “You should all be ashamed!” Claps and cheers erupted in support from a room that had been packed with people largely against the measure.

The chair of the committee, Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, tried to restore order by saying, “That’s enough.” He adjourned the meeting seconds later.

Maloy also faced pushback for limiting public comment and trying to have the same number of speakers both for and against the bill. One person in the audience shouted that was unfair, given that the line of those opposing the measure was far longer. “Look at this pain,” the person said.

In the end, 13 people were allowed to speak against the bill, and nine voiced their support for it.

HB269 comes on the decade anniversary of when Utah was widely celebrated for passing a measure that banned discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in housing and employment.

“I feel like 10 years later, we’re going back on that,” one person at the committee hearing Thursday said.

A mother and daughter supporting the bill

Those in favor of the bill included the student who originally spoke out when she was one of three women assigned to live in the same dorm suite as Marcie Robertson.

Avery Saltzman, the student, said she met her new R.A. before the holiday break in December and was concerned because Robertson is transgender. Saltzman said she was uncomfortable living in same space and sharing a restroom.

“If I had known that was a possibility, I never would have done it,” Saltzman said about living in the dorms.

She raised her worries with Utah State’s administration, she said, and was advised “to relocate if she had a problem.” And so she requested a transfer and received another room in the same building. But, she added, she’s been facing “social persecution” for doing so.

Saltzman and her mom, Cheryl, who also spoke in favor, said their concern is about privacy for female students. But Cheryl also said she believes a “toxic ideology” of supporting transgender students has gone too far and become “entrenched” in Utah universities. She advocated for the state to pass legislation similar to the recent executive order from President Donald Trump that declared the federal government would only recognize two genders on official forms.

The Saltzmans had support from Gayle Ruzicka, the longtime leader of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, as well as the rightwing Utah Legislative Watch. One supporter said she didn’t feel the bill went far enough and wanted it to include more recourse for students affected.

“This is a women’s issue, not a transgender issue,” added Corinne Johnson, the president and founder of Utah Parents United, another conservative group.

Earlier in the day, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams voiced his support for the measure in a conversation with reporters, saying it “cleans up the bathroom issue we had last year.”

Gricius called her bill “commonsense legislation” and said she hoped it would make all students feel more comfortable, including those in the transgender community. She said she’s not instructing schools to label what buildings or rooms those students are in.

“We don’t want to marginalize the community any more than they already feel,” she said.

The Utah Board of Higher Education has been tasked, if the legislation passes this session, to draw up formal guidelines for the eight public colleges and universities when assigning housing on their campuses. Some of the schools in the state don’t have dorms and won’t need rules. Others, like Utah Valley University, aren’t owned or operated by the institution, so those wouldn’t have to abide by HB269.

Gricius said the USU situation wasn’t the only one she’s heard about — and said similar issues at other schools in the state, collectively, prompted the bill.

“We’ve actually had issues across multiple institutions of higher ed. It was not just one instance,” she said, adding she felt it was “unfair” to female students.

Freshman Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, questioned Gricius on why the bill was needed, asking if there had been any alleged criminal activity in those situations that prompted action.

Gricius said there had been no criminal situations, but that female students weren’t feeling safe. “We’re not all comfortable being in the same space as others,” she said.

Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, backed Gricius, saying some college students come to campus as young as 16 and 17 years old and there is “some duty to protect them as a state.” Utah State University has promised to review its policies.

Utah’s LGBTQ+ community objects

McKinsey Robertson said she feels the state also has a duty to protect her daughter and her daughter’s right to an education at USU — and failed. “I am shocked at the treatment my daughter has received,” she said.

After Cheryl Saltzman spoke about the situation, and it was then shared online in conservative social media circles, threats against Marcie have since poured into her email, she told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Now it’s her daughter’s safety that’s at risk, McKinsey Robertson said. She called HB269 a push for “literal segregation” and pleaded with lawmakers not to pass it.

“This bill needs a lot of work,” the mom said. “It needs collaboration. It needs other points of view. And it needs to use actual facts. Trans people have always existed and always will.”

The family has the support of Equality Utah and the ACLU of Utah, which have both voiced opposition to the bill. A line of advocates, allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community also spoke out Thursday during the hearing.

“I could give you a list of 101 things in this state that we could do to make women safer. Marginalizing trans women like me is not on that,” said Becca Green with Project Rainbow Utah.

Reginald Sessions, a transgender student at Utah State, wore a pride T-shirt and pushed lawmakers to consider that roommate disagreements have always existed — over religion, bed times, music tastes — and they should treat this no differently. If a student is uncomfortable or has a conflict, there’s already a policy to request a new room.

“Trans students should not be spending our semesters worried about our rights and safety,” Sessions said. “We deserve to live openly and joyously.”

Celeste Winters, a transgender woman from Provo and a USU alumnus, said there’s an inaccurate and unfair assumption behind legislation like this: that trans women are somehow a threat or inherently dangerous.

“We have never caused issue,” Winters said. “The only issue is people feeling uncomfortable with us because they’re making assumptions about us.”

Robertson said that’s what happened with her daughter. She said the roommates assumed who she was based on her gender identity, without ever getting to know that Marcie is kind and empathetic and a role model to her two younger brothers.

— Tribune staff writer Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.