Members of the LGBT community in South Carolina also attended the event to share their stories, including Blair Durkee (below), a trans woman attending Clemson as a graduate student, and Chase Glenn, a transgender man from Charleston, South Carolina. Glenn testified against S1203, pointing out that this unenforceable bill will invite violence towards LGBT people. He stated, “I have been using public men’s restrooms for over a year – and I have never had one issue…This law – which is unenforceable – protects no one. All this serves to do is draw attention to the transgender community…Transgender people, like me, who simply want to use the bathroom will be singled out, outed as transgender, and harassed.”

South Carolina’s Richland County Sheriff, Leon Lott, also took a stand against the bill, calling it both “unnecessary” and “unenforceable.” Although he wasn’t able to attend the subcommittee hearing, he sent a letter to Senator Bryant, voicing his strong opposition to the passabe of S1203:

Dear Senator Bryant:

As Sheriff of Richland County, I am writing to you today to oppose the passage of S. 1203. First and foremost, this bill is unnecessary. In the 41 years I have been in law enforcement in South Carolina, I have never heard of a transgender person attacking or otherwise bothering someone in a restroom. This is a  non-issue.

Additionally, if this bill passes, it would put a huge burden on an already overloaded law enforcement team. As I understand the bill, to be enforced, a law enforcement officer would have to determine the sex of every person entering a restroom in our state. Obviously, DNA testing is cost-prohibitive. Asking my deputy sheriffs to check a person’s genetalia invades the subject’s dignity and privacy. There are also due process issues and Fourth Amendemnt issues. Such enforcement efforts could also expose my Department to costly litigation. 

Given the very real law enforcement challenges this state faces, like criminal domestic violence – South Carolina ranks No. 1 for deadly violence against women – and gang activity, I cannot endorse a bill which is unnecessary and unenforceable. 

I’m sorry that I am unable to attend the subcommittee hearing tomorrow because of pressing Department businesss, but I do ask that the subcommittee and committee take my opinion into consideration. It is rare that I weigh in on matters at the Statehouse, but given this S. 1203’s potential impact on my department, I felt compelled to communicate with you.

Sincerely,

Leon Lott

Sheriff

Families and State officers also joined Sheriff Lott in standing against this discriminatory bill today.  The parents of a nine year old South Carolina transgender girl, as well as Former State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum testified against the bill.

In her testimony, Tenenbaum stated, “I am here, as South Carolina’s former State State Superintendent of Education, to speak in opposition to S. 1203, a bill that bans transgender people from accessing restrooms and other facilities consistent with their identity and blocks local governments from protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in a wide variety of settings…America will not tolerate discrimination against the LGBT community nor will it put transgender people in danger without making the states that passed these laws pay economically.”

After the hearing, Senator Joel Lourie also spoke with the media to express his opposition to discriminatory bill, S1203.  Senator Lourie, Former State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, Sheriff Lott, Glenn Chase, and the countless other LGBT people and allies are not the only ones speaking out against senseless discrimination bills popping up around the country. Celebrities like Ellen Degeners, Miley Cyrus, and Bruce Springsteen have already stood against anti-LGBT bills such as South Carolina’s S1203, and as Former Superintendent Tenenbaum stated, “America will not tolerate discrimination against the LGBT community.”