Utah State Auditor John Dougall says he never signed up to be a “bathroom monitor” in response to public backlash against the Utah trans bathroom snitch line, Utah News Dispatch reports.
The complaint came up after he reported that there have been over 10,000 “bogus” submissions to the snitch line, of which a few hundred have been convincing enough to warrant additional time and resources to evaluate their truthfulness.
“Most of them are pretty easy to screen out as bogus complaints,” Dougall said. “There’s a few hundred that look like they might be more legitimate, but then, you know, facts don’t line up or they put somebody down as a contact, like me or something like that, and we know those are not legitimate.”
Among the joke responses filled out about the bill were posts about characters from the film Bee Movie, pictures of animal genitalia, false reports about anti-trans government officials, and a wide variety of memes, with even a reporter from 404 Media getting in on the mix.
“It’s not surprising that activists are taking the time to send false reports. But that isn’t a distraction from the importance of the legislation and the protection it provides women across Utah,” said Birkeland.
The snitch line came into existence after the passing of H.B. 257, also known as “Sex-Based Designations for Privacy, Anti-Bullying, and Women’s Opportunities,” which bans transgender people from changing rooms and restrooms in government spaces like public schools. The bill outlines heavy fines of up to $10,000 a day for entities that don’t comply.
Individuals who are caught violating the bill face potential police intervention.
H.B. 257 requires a government office to monitor any violations of this law, which led to the Office of the State Auditor being in charge of managing it.
“Auditing governmental entities and complaints against them is the responsibility of the state auditor’s office,” said state Rep. Kera Birkeland (R), a co-sponsor of the bill.
Dougall is reportedly upset about the role that has been thrust upon him, as his office was not consulted before the bill passed.
“Indeed, no auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor. Unfortunately, neither Rep. Birkeland, nor any other legislator consulted with this Office regarding this newly mandated obligation placed on the Office under this bill,” said Dougall.
Dougall asks that people who are angry with the bill direct their frustration to legislators and not his office or the employees within.
“Like many in the public, we learned about our role under this bill shortly before the bill was rushed to final passage.”
Other snitch lines have faced similar bombardment. An Indiana line earlier this year was flooded shortly after it got announced and an older one in Virginia faced the same results.
Regarding these snitch lines, journalist Erin Reed told the Associated Press, “There will be people who are trans that go into bathrooms that are potentially reported by these sorts of forms, and so the community is taking on a protective role.”
“If there are 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 form responses that are entered in, it’s going to be much harder for the auditor’s office to sift through every one of them and find the one legitimate trans person who was caught using a bathroom.”
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