Florida

House Subcommittee Passes Transgender Bathroom Bill

The Florida House Civil Justice Subcommittee passed a bill Wednesday that would make it a crime to use the restroom that doesn't correspond to your sex at birth.

House Bill 583, the Single Sex Public Facilities Bill, was introduced by Rep. Frank Artiles, from Miami. Artiles says the purpose of the bill is public safety and privacy.

"This is common sense legislation that protects Florida’s families, and the committee saw it that way," Artiles said in a statement.

The bill would make it a first-degree misdemeanor for anyone who, in the bill's language, isn’t a “biological female” to use “single-sex public facilities designated for girls, women, ladies, or persons of the female sex.” The law would also limit men’s public restrooms to “biological males.”

The bill next goes to the Government Operations Subcommittee and would then go to the Judiciary Committee.

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