Committee advances bill requiring on‑campus sex‑designated housing be assigned by biological sex; allows gender‑neutral option

The Utah House Business and Labor Committee on Thursday adopted a substitute to House Bill 269, Privacy Protections in Sex‑Designated Areas, and voted to recommend the bill to the full House by voice roll call 13–2.

Rep. Gracious, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure “is common sense legislation that provides for greater privacy for students living in on‑campus housing.” The substitute, the sponsor said, requires public higher‑education institutions to assign students in sex‑designated on‑campus housing according to biological sex, while still allowing higher‑education institutions to offer gender‑neutral housing on request and to publish policies for assignment and rulemaking.

What the substitute does: according to the sponsor’s presentation, the substitute applies to public universities’ on‑campus housing only, does not affect private institutions or off‑campus housing, and removes a prior provision allowing access to sex‑designated spaces based on medical…