It took hours and hours for Florida’s Single Sex Public Facilities Act to move past its second hurdle on its way to becoming law last week. That’s the controversial bill that would make it a crime for transgender adults to use a single-sex public restroom if they were not born a biological member of that sex. And last week, the House Government Operations Subcommittee approved the measure by a vote of 7-4, mostly along party lines.
The bill is sponsored by Miami Republican Rep. Frank Artiles who says his Act was created out of a concern for public safety. In a blog post, Artiles states: “The goal of HB 583 is not to discriminate against any group or individual, but rather to ensure the public’s safety in the State of Florida.”
Given that the Legislature in Florida meets for only 60 days each year to decide as many as 1,700 new bills and the rewriting of current laws, the amount of effort that has been expounded on the “toilet law” seems disproportionate.
Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Dean Trantalis made his position clear in an opinion piece exclusive to the Agenda.
“Florida has had its share of challenges, and from time to time, issues that we confront will make national, and even international news,” Trantalis feels.
“Now we are confronting that very terrible scourge that has plagued our people to the brink of our moral ledge—who gets to use the men’s and ladies’ public bathroom?” It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately, the situation is all too real.
“A certain state representative from Miami claims that he is being inundated by complaints from women all over that they fear that while they are using the restroom, when they are their most vulnerable, exposing to the world not just their tender derriere, but the brand of mascara they use as they freshen up before the
next course, they fear the presence of a transgendered person.
“I guess I can understand the sheer fright that grips a woman as she stands side-by-side in front of a mirror in the lady’s room. The first thing that comes to mind is that the woman realizes that the transgender is probably prettier than she is. Without a hair out of place, and the makeup all fresh and artistically applied, there’s no doubt jealousy rips through her core at the very sight of the soles on her mirror mate’s Louboutins.
“Fear, I say fear, has rankled women from the Panhandle to South Beach. Men, too, fear that a woman, dressed as a guy, will penetrate that bastion reserved only for real men. Really??” Trantelis questions, tongue firmly in cheek.
“The last time I ever saw a woman in amen’s room was at the airport when that little Peruvian lady tried to tidy up around some very sloppy men as they come and go doing their business. I can tell you, she needs no law to tell her to stay out of there, but for her it’s a job.
“The real question is how do we know the birth sex of anyone entering a public restroom? If the state passes this law, will it fund a posse of potty patrollers, checking to see who’s “real” and who isn’t? And just how is that
to be done? Maybe we can ask every guy to tug down their trousers a bit so
we can see the label on their underwear. That’s a dead giveaway.” Or maybe not. One thing is perfectly clear. To our transgender friends from both sexes, it is a very real problem with no puns or jokes attached.
“It’s plenty clear that the folks in Tallahassee have nothing better to
do. They seem to think that their voting public is more interested in their taking one more swipe at an oppressed minority than they are in creating more jobs, fighting juvenile crime, and helping us address the daunting threat of rising sea levels. (Oh yeah, that’s right, they don’t believe in that.)
“Yet somehow we are obsessed with bathroom issues. I’m sure Freud would have a field day with this topic, but then, he’s deceased and we are again
subjected to a renegade House of comics. This proposed law has nothing to do with the fear of any person but rather that of a politician fearing that he or she may not get re-elected if they don’t create yet another societal demon upon which to lay blame for their own failures.”
Yes, the truth hurts. But then, so too does common sense.
