South Carolina budget provision ignites debate over transgender students' safety

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — South Carolina's $15.8 billion budget was approved in the state Senate Wednesday night after a new provision was added.

It would require students to use the bathroom of their assigned sex at birth and sleep in rooms based on their birth sex during overnight field trips.

“A lot of times the lawmakers who push these types of provisos do it saying they're protecting kids, but they're not,” said Chase Glenn, executive director of Alliance for Full Acceptance.

LGBTQ-plus advocates say restricting students’ bathroom access is dangerous and takes away from schools being a safe place.

READ MORE: "S.C. Senate approves $15.8B budget after debate on bathrooms and conference switching."

“Bills that impact bathroom access for transgender and nonbinary students, put targets on their back. Quite simply, this makes them the target for discrimination and harassment, potentially violence when trans-kids just want to go to school and learn,” Glenn said.

All Republicans voting on this year’s state budget supported the provision, but Democrats argued an idea like this should be debated as its own legislation and not part of the budget.

“Letting it go through the committee process, and then allowing the body to have a full debate on it. But also allowing in the committee process for all stakeholders, those who are directly impacted by this type of legislation, to be able to be heard, to have their voices heard, to come and testify,” said State Sen. Deon Tedder.

Sen. Tedder believes it’s a sneak way to make a political statement.

READ MORE: "Superintendent Ellen Weaver resists Title IX ruling protecting LGBTQ+ students."

The budget provision is similar to a proposed “bathroom bill” originally introduced to the state in 2016 after a similar measure passed in North Carolina.

“Eight years ago, there was a bathroom bill that was filed, and it didn't get passed,” Glenn said. “Yet here we are in 2024 and our lawmakers are wasting time and slipping these types of things into budgets when these are issues that don't impact South Carolinians.”

The Senate has completed its part of the budget process.

Now it'll go back through the house and a conference committee before it reaches the governor’s desk.