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Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 955, restricting restrooms and sleeping quarters to biological sex with a private right to sue

On April 21, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB486, enacted as Act 955 of 2025, requiring multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in covered entities — including correctional facilities, domestic-violence shelters, and other public accommodations — to be designated for and restricted to a single biological sex. The law creates a private civil cause of action allowing individuals to sue covered entities for damages if they encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in such a facility, effectively barring transgender people from facilities matching their gender identity. Covered entities must take reasonable steps, such as signage and policy, to enforce the sex-based designation.

Jurisdiction
Arkansas
Location
Little Rock, Arkansas

Abuses documented

Actors

On April 21, 2025, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB486, enacted as Act 955 of the 2025 regular session of the 95th General Assembly. The law requires that multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in covered entities be designated for and restricted to a single biological sex. Covered entities include correctional facilities, domestic-violence shelters, and other specified public accommodations, which must take reasonable steps — such as signage and posted policy — to enforce the sex-based designation.

The statute creates a private civil cause of action: an individual who encounters a person of the opposite biological sex in a covered single-sex facility may sue the covered entity for damages. In practice the measure bars transgender people from restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters matching their gender identity and enlists private litigation as the enforcement mechanism.

The law adds Arkansas to a group of states that have restricted access to sex-segregated facilities by birth-assigned sex and attached private rights of action to enforce them.

Why we recorded this

Equal treatment under the law means the government does not single out a group for exclusion from public facilities because of who they are. Arkansas's Act 955 requires multi-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters in covered entities — including correctional facilities and domestic-violence shelters — to be restricted to a single biological sex, and creates a private right to sue any covered entity where a person encounters someone of the opposite biological sex. This records a state enacting a policy that bars transgender residents from facilities matching their gender identity and deputizes private lawsuits to enforce it.

Sources

  1. Act 955 of 2025 (enrolled text) — Arkansas State Legislature primary accessed July 11, 2026
  2. Arkansas SB486 | 2025 | 95th General Assembly — LegiScan primary accessed July 11, 2026
  3. Bill regulating transgender Arkansans' bathroom use heads to House despite public pushback — Arkansas Advocate investigative accessed July 11, 2026
  4. SB486 legislation page — Concerning Safety and Privacy in Certain Entities — ACLU of Arkansas secondary accessed July 11, 2026

See also