Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signed into law a ban on transgender students living in public college dorms that align with their gender identity — marking the third time in as many years he’s approved legislation that’s restricted the small community under the LGBTQ umbrella.
His signature came Friday night as he included the ban among the first slate of bills he’s endorsed this legislative session; he also approved the controversial measure to block collective bargaining for public unions.
Advocacy groups and residents across the state had pleaded over the past few weeks for Cox to veto both measures.
In a recent letter to the governor, the ACLU of Utah wrote about HB269, the dorm bill: “These attacks harm trans people and anyone perceived as a threat by leaders who are supposed to represent all of us. As governor, you can stop this intrusion into Utahns’ personal lives by vetoing HB269.”
Cox signed the bill without comment.
It shows somewhat of a continuing departure for Cox who, when the first piece of legislation against the transgender community came across his desk in 2022, vetoed it. That was a bill banning transgender girls from participating in high school sports.
At the time, Cox wrote a lengthy letter defending the transgender community that won him wide acclaim and many saw him as an ally. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,” he said then.
The Legislature overrode his veto.
And in subsequent years, as Cox has shifted politically more to the right, he has approved measures in 2023 banning gender-affirming health care in the state for transgender youth and in 2024 barring transgender individuals from using public restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity in government-owned buildings.
This year, there are also bills to ban pride flags in the classroom and to protect public employees if they misgender someone based on personally held beliefs.
But HB269 from Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, has been perhaps the most hot button bill against the LGBTQ community this session, drafted partly in response to a conflict this semester at Utah State University.
Marcie Robertson, a 20-year-old transgender student, was assigned to be the resident advisor for a women’s dorm at the northern Utah school. When Avery Saltzman, a roommate assigned to the same suite, learned of Robertson’s identity, she said she felt uncomfortable living there and sharing a restroom.
Saltzman requested a transfer and received another room in the same building. After it was resolved, though, the situation drew widespread attention when Saltzman’s mom posted about it on social media, where conservative circles picked up on it.
Robertson has said she has since faced harassment and death threats. USU has had to increase security around her dorm building. During a committee hearing on the bill last month, she said: “My life has been excruciating since this began to unfold.”
It’s been particularly painful, Robertson added, to see legislation specifically crafted against her.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cheryl Saltzman, walks up to speak out in favor of HB269 as Marcie Robertson, a transgender resident assistant at USU, speaks in opposition of the bill during a Senate Education Committee meeting at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
The measure requires that transgender students be assigned to a room based strictly on their sex at birth or to an area specifically designated as gender neutral.
The ACLU of Utah has challenged that, saying not all universities in the state have gender-neutral options — and that even for those who do, the requirement feels like the “separate but equal” policies that once segregated Black and white Americans.
Equality Utah and Project Rainbow Utah also spoke out against the bill, as did many transgender Utahns who lined up to voice their concerns during the committee hearings. Also in line was Robertson’s mom who choked back tears as she spoke.
“Being afraid of someone different from yourself is no reason to bully them,” McKinsey Robertson said.
Saltzman and her mom, Cheryl Saltzman, spoke in favor of the measure, arguing that women should have a right to privacy in spaces that are designated specifically female. “Dorms are a place where people are particularly vulnerable,” Gricius added during one debate.
The bill was supported by all Republicans in the House on a 59-13 vote, with Democrats opposed. Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Salt Lake City and Utah’s only openly LGBTQ lawmaker, pleaded for others to reject it, too.
In the Senate, a final tally of 20-7 moved it forward to Cox. There, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, broke party lines and stood with Democrats in voting against the bill.
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.
With the dorm bill, the Utah Board of Higher Education has been tasked with drawing up formal guidelines for the eight public colleges and universities to use when assigning housing on their campuses. Some of the schools in the state don’t have dorms and won’t need rules. Others, like dorms Utah Valley University, aren’t owned or operated by the institution, so those wouldn’t have to abide by the new law.
It takes effect June 1.
