Louisiana governor signs bill to protect women's privacy, safety
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp, director of the ADF Center for Public Policy, regarding Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s signing Monday of HB 608, a bill that recognizes the biological differences between men and women and preserves designated women’s spaces for women. The bill focuses on spaces where women are most vulnerable to compromised privacy and safety—such as changing rooms, sleeping quarters, and restrooms—and requires public schools, correctional facilities, and domestic violence shelters to protect these spaces based on sex:
“States have a duty to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of women and young girls. Yet certain advocacy organizations—and even the Biden Administration through its recent Title IX rule—are demanding states to tear down the long-standing tradition of having distinct facilities for men and women. This radical social experiment, which especially harms children and women fleeing abusive situations, flies in the face of common sense and even the plain language of Title IX and other federal laws. Letting men into women’s spaces—whether at public schools, correctional facilities, or domestic violence shelters—is an invasion of privacy and a threat to their safety. We commend Louisiana Rep. Roger Wilder, Sen. Beth Mizell, and the entire legislature for passing this critical bill with bipartisan support, and Gov. Landry for signing it into law. Protecting women from inappropriate exposure to men is not only legal, but also an important duty of the officials in charge of watching over their safety.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is the director of the Center for Public Policy. In this role, he leads ADF's team of policy experts as they craft legislation and advise government officials on policies that promote free speech, religious freedom, parental rights, and the sanctity of human life. Since joining ADF in 2010, Sharp has authored federal and state legislation, regularly provides testimony and legal analysis on how proposed legislation will impact constitutional freedoms, and advises governors, legislators, and state and national policy organizations on the importance of laws and policies that protect First Amendment rights. He has twice testified before the U.S. Congress on the importance of protecting free speech and religious liberty in federal law. Sharp also authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of nearly 9,000 students, parents, and community members asking the court to uphold students’ right to privacy against government intrusion. Sharp earned his J.D. in 2006 from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. A member of the bar in Georgia and Tennessee, he is also admitted to practice in several federal courts.