Conservative Christian lawmakers in Virginia want authorities to inspect school children’s genitals to make sure they are using the appropriate bathroom.

A new bill introduced this week by Virginia Delegate Mark Cole requires that students strictly adhere to designated restroom assignments or risk being fined.

The legislation as filed requires that students attending schools designating restrooms for a specific gender be fined up to $50 if they use the restroom of the opposite gender.

A summary of HB 663 – otherwise known as “Use of restroom facilities; penalty” – states:

Use of restroom facilities; penalty. Requires the Director of the Department of General Services and local school boards to develop and implement policies that require, respectively, that every restroom designated for public use in any public building on property that is owned, leased, or controlled by the Commonwealth and every public school restroom, locker room, and shower room that is designated for use by a specific gender to solely be used by individuals whose anatomical sex matches such gender . . .

The bill defines anatomical sex as:

the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s anatomy.

As Crooks and Liars points out, under that definition, the only way for anyone to determine such a thing would be to examine each student’s genitalia as they enter the restroom.

And Peacock Panache echoes this analysis:

the legislation targets public schools where in order for the legislation to work, adults would be required to inspect children’s genitals before they use the bathroom.

Mark Cole, the Republican lawmaker behind the bill, is no stranger to idiotic Christian extremism. In February 2010 Cole sponsored a bill in the House of Delegates which would have banned the implantation of microchips into humans by their employers. At the time Cole was ridiculed by many after justifying the legislation by referencing the Bible:

My understanding — I’m not a theologian — but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times, some people think these computer chips might be that mark.

Christian conservatives expressing panic at the thought of transgender individuals using public bathrooms is nothing new. For example, Republican Colorado lawmaker Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt has repeatedly demanded that transgender people be prohibited from using public bathrooms.

Republican Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee recently mocked transgender individuals need to use public bathrooms while wishing he could have said he was transgender while in high school so he could have showered “with the girls.”

And before scandal rocked the world of 19 Kids and Counting matriarch Michelle Duggar, she was making robocalls describing transgender people as “child predators” while claiming that trans women are actually male sex offenders who want access to women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.

Bottom line: The proposed legislation to inspect school children’s genitals to make sure they are using the appropriate bathroom is yet another despicable expression of conservative Christian fear and hatred for the transgender community.