Florida Bathroom Ban Now In Effect: Enforcement Likely To Be A Disaster

[icymist]

Transgender people in the state of Florida now face arrest as the nation’s first bathroom ban that contains a criminal penalty takes into effect. House Bill 1521, which carries the unprecedented weight of criminal penalties for noncompliance, took effect at midnight on Friday. The legislation mandates that transgender individuals must use public restrooms that correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth, even if they have legally updated their gender markers on their birth certificates and drivers licenses. Should a transgender person use the bathroom of their gender identity at the same time as a cisgender person, they can be forced to leave. Should they not comply, they will be charged with trespassing - a crime in Florida punishable by up to a year in jail.

Though Florida’s bathroom ban does not apply everywhere, it casts a wide net, covering an extensive array of public restrooms including those in city parks, beaches, airports, government buildings, and educational institutions. Transgender women changing clothes before going out on the beach, for instance, will be forced to use the male bathroom to do so - regardless of any legal gender markers on their documents. Transgender men will likewise be forced to do the same. These provisions could lead to incredibly uncomfortable scenarios.

...A non-comprehensive list of facilities affected can be seen here:

Conference Centers owned or leased by the state, including large ones such as the Orange County Convention Center and the Miami Beach Convention Center

Airports that are publicly owned, which encompasses the majority of Florida airports.

Schools and universities including private schools and universities in the state.

City Parks and Beach Bathrooms of which there are thousands in Florida.

City and state government buildings including state courthouses, the state legislature, city halls, and more.

Stadiums that are owned or leased by state or local governments, including the Tampa Bay Rays Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Raymond James Stadium, and more.

Rest Stops and Service Stations of which many exist along the Florida turnpike.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/florida-bathroom-ban-now-in-effect?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=994764&post_id=132357320&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

[MOMFUDSKI]

1. I am a woman. I live in Florida.

I am not transgender. I have been known to use a mens' room on occasion when the ladies' line was super long, and I really didn't care what anyone thought. I don't want a year in the slammer so I will have to change my awful ways. SHEESH

[Freethinker65]

2. So can androgynous cis gender individuals sue for harassment?

[Ocelot II]

5. I should think so. If a woman who looks a bit too "masculine" for some bigot's taste

uses the women's bathroom and she's forced to prove her gender (How? By dropping her pants?) to some Karen, isn't that a horrific invasion of privacy?

[louslobbs]

3. So if all of these trans guys lived in Florida,

they would have to use the women’s bathroom?

[Ocelot II]

4. Who's going to be checking?

Maybe cis people should start using the "wrong" bathrooms regularly, drive the enforcers crazy.

[Deuxcents]

6. I also live in Florida and this ridiculous bathroom thing is a self inflicted mess

When I was young, I, too, used the men’s bathroom when the line to the ladies bathroom was a mile long. In and out and no one cared. I frequent a bbq restaurant not far from me and they are always busy because the food is good. They have one bathroom there. Just one and it has a baby changing station and two stalls and a big sink. If it’s being used, ya wait. As many times as I’ve been there, no one has ever complained. They keep it clean and even the teenagers that hang out there after school leave it clean. This is just one example but I’ve been to other places with only one bathroom. This is a problem that never had to be.

[Joinfortmill]

7. VOTE

[Phil01]

8. The real solution is the all gender bathroom ...

You know, like you had at home when you were a kid, and maybe also in a public kindergarten.

Various European countries have been doing this all along for no particular political reason, and nothing bad happened.