FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 6, 2015
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org, (786) 363-2737
TALLAHASSEE, FL – A bill filed by Florida State Representative Frank Artiles, HB 583, would invalidate protections for transgender Floridians and criminalize the use of public restrooms by transgender people.
Responding to the bill, ACLU of Florida LGBT rights staff attorney Daniel Tilley stated:
“This ‘show your papers to pee’ bill denigrates both transgender and non-transgender people alike. 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?
“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. That’s 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.”
“And given the smooth implementation of gender identity protections for public accommodations in 17 states and more than 200 cities around the country, 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.”
