LGBT
Related: About this forumFlorida Bill Seeks To Jail Trans People for Using Public Bathrooms
Gay marriage has been legal in Florida for a month now, and at this point, even the states hardcore conservatives seem increasingly resigned to the fact that marriage equality is here to stay. Accordingly, Floridas more bigoted legislators have decided to turn their ire toward another maligned, disfavored minoritytrans peopleby 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 bills text, any trans person who enters a single-sex public facility that doesnt 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 employmentbasically, 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 doesnt 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 accusers 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, shell not only have to pay damages to disgruntled customersshell also have to pay their attorneys 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 states blessing, while providing them a new avenue through which to shame trans Floridiansthe 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.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/02/06/florida_bill_would_imprison_trans_people_for_using_public_bathrooms.html?wpsrc=fol_fb
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)When all decent Americans become so outraged at this garbage that they can no longer stand still, get back to me.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)How's that sunshine state thing going. I'm surprised they're letting it get to court. Why not just shoot people you suspect could be transgendered.
I feared for my life yer honor, what else could I do?
So glad I live so far away from FloriDUH.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Horrendous
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)Who cares? Where is the threat? How could you even tell in a lot of cases? When I am in a public ladies room I don't really spend anytime assessing whoever else is in there.
This smacks of Nazi Germany.
Religious craziness I guess. I'm agnostic but I think this is a good code to go through life with - 1) live and let live and 2) do unto others as you would wish others would do onto you. Christians would do well to live more by those two codes of conduct and quit being holier than thou with religious mumbo jump and hate.