(CNN) Voters in Anchorage, Alaska, narrowly rejected a proposal to restrict bathroom access for transgender people, the first time such a measure was decided at the ballot box.

So-called "bathroom bills" were up for consideration in at least six state legislatures in 2018, according to the American Civil Liberties Union . Similar to North Carolina's HB 2, their fate rests with lawmakers.

But Anchorage's Proposition 1 was the first of its kind to be decided by voters in a fight that attracted more attention from outside the state than the city's mayoral race.

Proposition 1 sought to repeal the city's nondiscrimination ordinance, which allows people to use public restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms consistent with their gender and prohibits employment and public accommodation discrimination against transgender and gender nonconforming people.

Instead, Proposition 1 would have required people to use facilities based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Alaska Family Council, a supporter of the bill, said it was intended to protect the privacy of women and children. The group did not respond to requests for comment.

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