Florida passes ‘bathroom bill’ that targets transgender community
The Florida legislature on Wednesday passed a “bathroom bill” that bans transgender people from using public restrooms that don’t align with their sex at birth.
The GOP-controlled Senate voted 26-12 to approve HB 1521 — and the House passed it a short time later in an 80-36 vote.
The measure now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to sign it into law.
Under the bill, known as the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” people could be slapped with a second-degree misdemeanor if they use public restrooms or changing facilities that do not align with their sex assigned at birth.
The measure would apply to the use of bathrooms at facilities such as public schools and universities, state and local government buildings, prisons and jails, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
An earlier version also would have applied to health-care facilities and businesses such as eateries and gas stations, but those venues were removed from the final version.
Lawmakers included a provision that “females and males should be provided restrooms and changing facilities for their exclusive use, respective to their sex, in order to maintain public safety, decency, decorum and privacy.”
Democrats vehemently opposed the legislation, arguing it would subject transgender people to abuse and questioning how it would be enforced.
“Where is the dignity? Where is the respect for another human being?” said Rep. Marie Woodson (D-Hollywood), the Sentinel reported.
State Sen. Victor Torres (D-Kissimmee), who has spoken about his trans granddaughter, said: “Somebody out there is going to take that into his or her own hands into stopping somebody who’s transgender from using a bathroom,” according to Politico.
But state Rep. Rachel Plakon (R-Lake Mary), who carried the House bill, said on the floor, “Vote ‘yes’ for common sense.”
“We’ve had a huge scientific study with billions of people for 136 years that separate facilities work,” she declared.
And Sen. Erin Grall (R-Fort Pierce), who carried the Senate bill, argued that “there’s not anything in the language of this bill that is targeting any specific group.”
She added: “Rather, it speaks to the differences that we have as different sexes, as male and female.”
Meanwhile, the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign slammed the legislation as “a pernicious, degrading, and systematic attempt to dehumanize one of our most marginalized communities.”
The group’s legal director Sarah Warbelow told The Hill in a statement: “Florida legislators should focus on real issues impacting Floridians instead of where transgender people go to the bathroom.”
Jon Harris Maurer of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida said the “bill opens the door to abuse, mistreatment, and dehumanization.
“Our state government should be focused on solving pressing issues, not terrorizing people who are simply trying to use the restroom and exist in public,” the group’s public policy chief added.
Kaleb Hobson-Garcia, a trans man who attended a hearing, said that despite his beard and deep voice, the bill would require him to use the women’s restroom, potentially scaring others and putting him in danger.
“You’re not trying to protect people,” he told the Washington Post.
