Horrific Florida Bill Would Imprison Trans People for Using Public Bathrooms

[steve2470]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/02/06/florida_bill_would_imprison_trans_people_for_using_public_bathrooms.html

Gay marriage has been legal in Florida for a month now, and at this point, even the state’s hardcore conservatives seem increasingly resigned to the fact that marriage equality is here to stay. Accordingly, Florida’s more bigoted legislators have decided to turn their ire toward another maligned, disfavored minority—trans people—by proposing one of the most viciously sadistic, hypocritical bills the legislature has ever considered.

The basic purpose of the bill is quite simple: to forbid trans people from using the public bathroom that matches their true gender. According to the bill’s text, any trans person who enters a “single-sex public facility” that doesn’t match their “biological sex” is guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor. A “single-sex public facility” includes bathrooms “maintained by an owner of public accommodations, a school, or a place of employment”—basically, any public bathroom in the entire state. Any trans person who violates the act could be sentenced to one year in prison.

It gets much, much worse. Any non-trans person who discovers a trans person using a bathroom that doesn’t align with their “biological sex” would be permitted to sue that trans person under the act. (If sued successfully, the trans person would have to pay their accuser’s attorney fees.) And, in a final turn of the screw, an “owner of public accommodations, a school, or a place of employment” who allows a trans person to use the bathroom of their true gender is liable for a civil suit. In other words, if a store owner does not actively prevent trans people from using her bathrooms, she can be sued by other customers. And of course, if the trans-friendly store owner is found to have allowed a trans person to use the bathroom, she’ll not only have to pay damages to disgruntled customers—she’ll also have to pay their attorney’s fees.

The obvious intent of this bill is to humiliate trans people by opening them up to criminal and civil liability merely for performing the most basic of bodily functions. Trans people already face harassment, discrimination, and sometimes violence while attempting to use the bathroom. This bill would effectively give anti-trans harassers the state’s blessing, while providing them a new avenue through which to shame trans Floridians—the court system. Many trans people are already anxious about using public bathrooms; some are afraid to leave their homes given the risk of verbal and physical abuse they face in public facilities. With this bill, the state would effectively legalize anti-trans harassment, sending a resounding message to trans people that they are not welcome in public life.

[jpak]

1. The Christian Right is no better than ISIS

yup

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

2. But but but there is NO difference in the parties, right?

I hate having to use this emoticon

[iandhr]

5. Don't worry that will be the top reced thread tomorrow.

People here will praise that bold truth.

[Kalidurga]

3. I used a men's room once...

even worse I aided and abetted other women using it as well. It was mutiny. The line for the ladies room was at least 50 people long. The men's line 5-10 people long at the most. So, I walzed in with a couple ladies and asked another couple to stand guard, this was during the gap when there were no men in line at all. The ladies line was thru in minutes after that.

I think restrooms should just go unisex. Europe survives this atrocity and it seems without trauma.

[pangaia]

13. Hell, I've been in co-ed/unisex saunas and showers in Germany...

What's the big deal..

[Kalidurga]

17. The big deal is manufactured.

Now I will grant you that in my 20's I would have been shocked if co-ed had been suddenly the rule of the land. But, today not so much.

[Initech]

18. I used a woman's room once.

Don't laugh - I was at a concert at a relatively small venue and one of the men's room toilets had overflowed, so they had security out and made everyone use the remaining restroom. It was kind of weird but some of the guys in attendance enjoyed the experience just a little too much.

[City Lights]

4. Fuck Floriduh. nt

[yuiyoshida]

6. Horrific...

legal discrimination. Just horrific, and if they pass this, does it open the door too racial discrimination as well?

[steve2470]

7. Time to call State Rep. Frank Artiles, Republican from Miami, at [phone] and [phone]

A Miami Republican has filed a Florida House bill that would limit — some say “invalidate” — transgender nondiscrimination ordinances throughout the state.

State Rep. Frank Artiles on Wednesday filed HB 583, titled “Single-Sex Public Facilities.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/gay-south-florida/article9390389.html#storylink=cpy

The proposed bill: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=53629

His website: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4529

[MoonRiver]

8. OMG

FloriDUH does it again!

[hifiguy]

9. What the fuck is WRONG with these cretins?

What is their point, other than the ones under their hats?

[vlyons]

15. they are sociopaths

and scared to death that someone will see their little willie, when they pee.

[SCVDem]

10. How can I rec the OP?

This is so fucked up in that you can't win.

[MoonRiver]

12. I know what you mean.

I justify it by thinking that these atrocities need exposure.

[TRoN33]

14. Florida; the unflushed toilet bowl of the United States.

[HereSince1628]

16. My guess is they have some deep rooted irrational anxiety about...well...YOU KNOW

the name of the senator...

Probably acquired by the rejection they interpreted from the screwed up face of their mother as she changed their diapers.