It's hard to fathom why any legislator in the 21st century would want discrimination as part of his legacy, but Rep. Frank Artiles apparently has his reasons.
The Miami Republican, chairman of the House Economic Development and Tourism Subcommittee,this week introduced a bill that would invalidate protections for transgender Floridians and criminalizethe use of public restrooms by transgender people.
It basically would write transphobic discrimination into state law.
Of course, Artiles infuriated most of the state's LGBT community. But he upset others, too -- and yes, even conservatives like me who want to see the third largest state in the nation pass informed laws that elevate the condition of its citizens and visitors -- and I mean all of them.
The bill, HB 583, titled "Single-Sex Public Facilities," does exactly the opposite.
The ACLU calls it theshow your papers to pee bill. It's a fair description. Here's the general wording:
"Requires that use of single-sex facilities be restricted to persons of sex for which facility is designated; prohibits knowingly & willfully entering single-sex public facility designated for or restricted to persons of other biological sex; provides exemptions; provides private cause of action against violators; provides for preemption.
Said Daniel Tilley, LGBT rights staff attorney for the ACLU, "In addition to dehumanizing transgender people in particular, it invites humiliation and harassment of anyone who is not considered sufficiently feminine or masculine in the eyes of the beholder. Will girls in soccer uniforms be stopped at the bathroom door and asked to produce their birth certificates?"
Tilley further explains, This bill also puts the burden on business owners to monitor customers use of restrooms and ask intrusive and humiliating questions of customers or be at risk of liability. Thats not good for business, much less for the customers themselves, whether transgender or not. The bill would essentially require everyone to carry their birth certificate around so that other citizens can subject them to random interrogations in the restroom.
Just two months ago, on Dec. 2, commissioners in Miami-Dade County updated their 1998 gay rights ordinance to add protections for people on the basis of gender identity and expression. If this bill passes as written, it will undo those protections.
Law enforcement officials, sexual assault victims advocates, and civil rights commission employees in states that have gender identity protections all attest that the myth of violence in public bathrooms has no factual grounding. Said Luke Brinker Thursday on the Salon.orgwebsite, "Not one reports even a single instance of assault or other crimes due to transgender facilities protections in their states."
I have no idea who spooked Rep. Artiles about bathrooms. In fact, the number of gender-neutral bathrooms across the country has grown in just the past few years, in city-run facilities, workplaces and, most commonly, college campuses. Would you believe there are more than 150 schools across the U.S. that have gender-neutral bathrooms? Read the story about itin the Huffington Post. I think you'll see there's just nothing to fear.
The final statement from ACLU's Tilley ought to give this backward boon-dork of a bill the kiss of death it deserves: ... Given the smooth implementation of gender identity protections for public accommodations in 17 states and more than 200 cities around the country," said Tilley, "the bill is as unnecessary as it is hurtful. Just as a similarly mean-spirited bill in Arizona failed, we expect this absurd bill to fail as well.
I couldn't agree more. Florida should be sunsetting discriminatory laws, not manufacturing new ones.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
