Transgender activists have flooded a Utah tip line created to alert state officials to possible violations of a new bathroom law with thousands of hoax reports in an effort to shield trans residents and their allies from any legitimate complaints that could lead to an investigation.

The onslaught has led the state official tasked by law with managing the tip line, Utah Auditor John Dougall, to bemoan getting stuck with the cumbersome task of filtering through fake complaints while also facing backlash for enforcing a law he had no role in passing.

“No auditor goes into auditing so they can be the bathroom monitors,” Dougall said Tuesday. “I think there were much better ways for the Legislature to go about addressing their concerns, rather than this ham-handed approach.”

In the week since it launched, the online tip line already has received more than 10,000 submissions, none of which seem legitimate, he said. The form asks people to report public school employees who knowingly allow someone to use a facility designated for the opposite sex.

  • BoneALisa@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    I would say that spending the time and energy to resist a law to specifically discriminate against trans people does make you a trans activist, in the literal sense of doing activism foe trans people, whether you would call yourself that or not lol

    • A Phlaming Phoenix@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      To split some hairs, I’m not trans, but I’m all in favor of trans rights. If I take action in favor of trans rights, I’m a “trans rights activist”, but not a “trans activist”.