Transgender bathroom bill supporters, foes pack hearing

Some Minnesota parents say allowing transgender people to use bathrooms of the gender they identify with is ripe for abuse by people with bad intentions. A transgender woman says she's not a sexual predator — she's just trying to use the bathroom.

Those two viewpoints shaped a heated debate at Minnesota's Legislature Tuesday over a bill restricting transgender residents' bathroom use to their birth sex. Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen's bill would also apply to locker rooms and changing facilities.

It won't come to a vote this year and it stands little chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Minnesota is just the latest state where the issue has cropped up as November's election approaches. North Carolina recently passed a similar measure, while South Dakota's Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill.