Last Friday, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed into law H4756, the South Carolina Student Physical Privacy Act (full text). The new law (with narrow exceptions) requires public schools and public colleges and universities to designate multi-occupancy restrooms and changing facilities for use only by members of one sex at a time. "Sex" is defined as "a person's biological sex, either male or female, as observed or clinically verified at birth." The new law also requires all public schools and public colleges and universities to "provide for a single-user restroom and changing facility" or an accommodation by allowing temporary exclusive use of a multi-occupancy rest room.
The new law also provides that during any activity or event sponsored by a public school or college, no student shall be required to share sleeping quarters with a member of the opposite sex. Colleges that provide student housing must provide students the option to be housed only with persons of the same sex.
