(The Center Square) – Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill that will ban men who say they’re women from dorming with women in public higher education, although gender-neutral living quarters are still permissible.
“H.B. 269 is common-sense legislation that will enhance privacy for students residing in on-campus housing at public universities,” the bill’s main sponsor, Utah Rep. Stephanie Gricius, told The Center Square.
“It’s not fair to students to create an expectation of privacy in a sex-segregated dorm or apartment, then assign them to live with someone who shares their gender identity but whose biology matches the opposite sex,” Gricius said.
Gruicus explained that “universities may designate gender-neutral living arrangements for students who do not want to live in sex-segregated spaces.”
“These clear guidelines and options for on-campus housing will ensure comfort and privacy for all students,” Gricius said.
Utah’s House Bill 269 states that it “requires degree-granting institutions to comply with sex designations in assigning students to dwelling units within the institution’s sex-designated student housing.”
“To preserve the individual privacy of males and females, a degree-granting institution that provides student housing may only rent to, assign, or otherwise place an individual in a dwelling unit that is sex-designated within the institution’s student housing if the individual’s sex corresponds with the sex designation of the dwelling unit within the institution’s student housing,” the bill states.
An “unamended birth certificate that corresponds with the sex designation of the dwelling unit” can be used as evidence in “a defense against an allegation that the individual is not eligible” for a certain sex-designated residence.
“Nothing in this section prohibits a degree-granting institution from offering a dwelling unit in student housing that is not sex-designated if the institution only assigns or places an individual in the dwelling unit who seeks a dwelling unit that is not sex-designated,” the bill states.
State Rep. Stephanie Gricius is the bill’s main sponsor, while Sen. Brady Brammer is the floor sponsor.
When reached for comment, a member of Brammer’s team referred The Center Square to Gricius.
The ACLU of Utah is opposed to the bill, stating in a letter to the governor it believes that the bill is “unnecessary,” and “perpetuates discrimination, needlessly imposes barriers to access higher education, and will result in harm to transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming Utahns.”
When reached for comment, communications director at the ACLU of Utah Aaron Welcher directed TCS to the letter.
Students and parents have expressed support for the bill.
“I would never have chosen to live on campus in an apartment with a man identifying as a woman,” Utah State University student Avery Saltzman, who was in the same dorm as a transgender-identifying man her freshman year, said at a hearing for HB269, as reported by Deseret News.
The situation “puts women in a position where we have to decide to put ourselves at risk…or face social persecution,” Saltzman said.
When a male resident assistant who says he is a woman moved into Saltzman’s dorm, she texted her mother, “I think a guy pretending to be a woman moved into my apartment,” as reported by Campus Reform.
Saltzman’s mother Cheryl told Campus Reform, “I can’t even believe how little [the school cares] about the safety and protection and privacy of these girls. It is alarming.”
Utah State gave Avery a different living arrangement, according to Campus Reform.
The Center Square reached out to Governor Cox’s deputy director of communications Julia Pappas twice and received no comment.
H.B. 269 was one of the bills the governor signed in his first dozen of the 2025 General Legislative Session, as observed on the state of Utah’s website.
