Republicans in the Montana state House will likely hold the first anti-trans state legislative hearing of the year concerning House Bill 121, proposed legislation banning transgender adults from using multiple-occupancy bathrooms, changing facilities, and sleeping quarters in public buildings, including school campuses, businesses, libraries, museums, hospitals, auditoriums, detainment centers, and abuse shelters.The bill which is co-sponsored by 35 of the state Houses 58 Republican members and was introduced by a legislator who said shed rather have a dead child than a trans one would affect all trans or nonbinary (NB) individuals. It would also allow anyone who encounters a trans or NB person in one of the aforementioned facilities to sue that person or whoever granted their entry up to two years after the encounter. Related Record number of anti-trans bills introduced just before 2025 120 bills have been introduced, topping last years count of 80. House Bill 121 bans trans individuals and members of the opposite sex from the multiple-occupancy spaces except when providing custodial, maintenance, medical, emergency, or law enforcement services or when assisting as a legally recognized family member. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The bill defines gender as either being male or female, determined by ones chromosomes and reproductive organs. It deems that those determinations should make it easier to categorize intersex people as either one gender or the other.The purposes of the bill are to reaffirm the longstanding meanings of the terms sex, male, and female in law; and preserve women in facilities where women have traditionally been afforded privacy and safety from acts of abuse, harassment, sexual assault, and violence committed by men.The latter aim echoes claims from trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), who have long vilified trans women as a threat to cisgender womens safety even though almost all violence against women is perpetrated by cis men. Trans journalist Erin Reednotedthat transphobic bathroom laws have led trans people to experience medical issues from having to hold their bodies waste products for prolonged time spans. Transphobic bathroom bans have also led vigilante citizens to mistakenly forbid cis people from using restrooms whenever those people dont fit their preconceived gender stereotypes.The bill was introduced by Montana state Rep. Kerri Seekings-Crowe (R), a cis woman who once said that she would rather have her daughter die by suicide than let her transition genders. She made her comment while speaking in favor of a now-implemented law to ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state.Rep. Seekings-Crowe said that her own daughter was suicidal for three years but that she would never have let her access gender-affirming care, even if it would have saved her life.The state legislature passed the bill, and Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed it into law in 2023, despite his nonbinary son pleading with him to veto it. The state has two trans legislators, Reps. SJ Howell (D) and Zooey Zephyr (D). Neither seems to have publicly commented on the hearing at this time via social media.Editors note: If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at988lifeline.org. TheTrans Lifeline(1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth viachat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.