© 2024 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KUNR’s spring fund drive is happening now, and your gift to the station will go twice as far with a matching pledge from the KUNR Advisory Board!

Now is the time to act –
click here to make a gift to KUNR today or increase your sustaining membership and have it matched.

Transgender Advocates Say Bathroom Bill Was 'Too Close For Comfort'

Esther Ciammachilli

The Nevada Assembly rejected a bill last night (Tuesday) that would have required students to use school bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex.

The highly controversial AB375 was marginally voted down in a 22-20 vote with five Republicans and all Democrats opposed.

Republican Assemblywoman Vicki Dooling was the bill's main sponsor.

"This bill will bring privacy and safety for all children," Dooling said.

And that was the main argument made by the majority of proponents. But opponents said the bill would further marginalize transgender students.

Brock Maylath is president of the Transgender Allies Group of Reno. He says the defeat of AB375 means these children won't have to suffer being treated like second class citizens.

"My elementary school trans friends will not be stuck in storage rooms and having to be alone, sharing it with mops and buckets, away from all of the other so-called decent kids," Maylath said.

Maylath says, although the bill was rejected, the vote was too close for comfort.

Esther Ciammachilli is a former part-time broadcaster at KUNR Public Radio.