Hotline intended to enforce transgender bathroom ban backfires, Utah auditor says

A hotline was set up to enforce Utah’s transgender bathroom ban — but it didn’t go according to plan, the state’s auditor said in a statement.

It backfired — almost immediately — when activists flooded what has been called a “snitch line” with thousands of “bogus” complaints, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Among the thousands of fake complaints, not a single one was legitimate, State Auditor John Dougall said in a May 7 statement.

“We didn’t see anything that looks credible,” Dougall told the Salt Lake Tribune, adding that the complaints were “easy” to screen. He described an example of one that was clearly a hoax because it gave Dougall’s name as a complainant.

Several people submitted internet pranks in the form of memes, ABC4 reported. One person posted screenshots of their form filled out with the lyrics of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” — an internet prank known as “rickrolling.”

House Bill 257, titled “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying and Women’s Opportunities,” was rushed through the Legislature and signed into law in January, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. It “changes the legal definitions of ‘female’ and ‘male’ to categorize Utahns by the reproductive organs of their birth, and restricts which bathrooms and locker rooms trans people can use in government-owned buildings,” the outlet reported.

In his statement, Dougall slammed the legislature for forcing his office to act as a “bathroom monitor.”

His office created the hotline only to comply with the state law — “a role we did not request,” the statement says. “Indeed, no auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor.”

The complaint form allows anyone to report government entities for violating the law — not individual people’s actions, Dougall’s statement says. So if a government entity fails to implement a plan to comply with the law, someone could report that through the hotline.

“We will not investigate the actions of any private individuals, nor will we investigate or determine anyone’s sex or gender,” the statement says. “We are not required — and have no desire — to intrude on the most intimate aspects of a person’s life.”

Dougall reminded the public that “an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a ‘privacy space,’” and said the office would forward “lewd or voyeuristic images” to law enforcement.

“I recognize that many Utahns feel trampled by an invasive and overly aggressive Legislature that too often fails to seek input from those most affected,” he continued. “Constituents unhappy with this Statute will not effect change by misdirecting their anger toward the Office and its dedicated employees. The Legislature crafted these public policies, and only the Legislature can revise them.”

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