I'm enjoying the thought of some sorryass cis motherfucker trying to attack a woman in a public bathroom and getting the holy shit kicked out of him by a bunch of women, head stuffed down a toilet, etc.

Is there an epidemic of trans women assaulting cis women in women's bathrooms? Republicans are good at passing laws for imaginary problems, like voting ID.

I'm unsure if it would pass 14th Amendment scrutiny. If someone is legally male, they are legally male. If someone is legally female, they are legally female. Establishing laws that ignore legal gender and treat people as 'differently' male or 'differently' female would probably violate the guarantee of equal protection under the law. It would be akin to treating natural-born and naturalized citizens differently (other than the thing about running for President).

Not to mention people born intersex, whether it's 47XXY, CAIS, 46XX/46XY chimerism, Swyer syndrome, or whatever, wouldn't be accounted for by the law. Suppose for example that a child is born with 5α-Reductase deficiency, causing them to be externally female-appearing (and assigned that gender at birth) albeit with ambiguous genitalia, but to bear a Y chromosome, have male gender identity (neurological structure), and to eventually develop male sexual characteristics (macroclitoris/micropenis, male facial hair, masculine voice, production of viable sperm). In such an instance there would be a person who, by any reasonable measure, would be termed male but not transgender, and yet, due to having been assigned female at birth, would be forced to use the ladies' room by this bill!

I really wish these transphobic weirdos would read up on human biology before they open their mouths. Our species and its pathologies are far stranger than these idiots presume...

WTF is wrong with these sorts of people? For god's sake, why don't they get a life. PATHETIC.

What this tells me is that a lot of elected Republicans would totally dress up as the opposite gender and assault women in the bathroom if only it was marginally easier to do. Projection.....

If using a public restroom is a choice, as Artiles says, then would it not make sense for everyone who happens to be anywhere near the State Capitol, or Artiles' office in Miami, or the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce, or anywhere else of relevance to Artiles, to choose not to use the restroom?

All of these places - his offices, the chamber of commerce, etc - have front doors, sofas, tables, vases, and other places where one could exercise one's freedom of choice not to use a restroom.

So, come on, people of Florida - trans or cis. If you're anywhere near Artiles' office, and you need a dump or a piss, you know where to do it. Floors, walls, sofas.... anywhere except the actual restroom.

If you'd like to ask him about this, by the way, his phone number is 305-219-8830 and his e-mail is mail@frankartiles.com.

@2: Don't forget, this actually makes it harder for tons of non-transgender people. If my wife and my son are out and need to use the bathroom, what does she do? Are they going to cite my son for using the women's restroom? Most men's rooms don't have changing tables!
In addition to babies/toddlers, there are other people who require assistance in the restroom, and those people don't necessarily match genders with their caregivers!
There's all sorts of reasons why this is moronic, which is why this bill may represent a bit of a turning point. It is so patently about animus that he didn't bother to think of the side effects.

If we "choose" to use the restroom, then that's it. I'm just going to stop peeing. Since it's a choice and all.

Oh, and if this law is passed, are they going to start policing gay and lesbian bars, places that are typically safe havens for trans people? Arresting them for using the bathroom at a place that they are supposed to feel comfortable at? This is such bullshit.

Good thing women always take their purse to the bathroom. You know, to show the doorman ID.

What a dick.

Isn't the biggest threat to Republican dudes in public bathroom OTHER Republican dudes in public bathrooms (i.e, Larry Craig?)

Ah, Dominic Holden surfaces. Does any ex-writer for The Stranger ever consider that there's a career outside of media and entertainment? Or is it simply a lifelong wormhole?

Ah, classic catastrophe politics: When the going gets economically tough, you vilify some group and focus everyone's attention (& hate) on them.

Typically, the group chosen is "politically weak" but "respected" in some way.
In Putin's Russia, it is the LGBT community singled out for their pogrom.
In Austerity Greece, it is immigrants.
In Obama's America, it is the sex workers and the trans community...

Artiles is a RINO, and not a true classic conservative, nor a libertarian, and certainly not a Christian.

Only time I heard of someone raping in public restrooms it was a man raping men.

@11 Nah, it's pretty simple. Make all bathrooms unisex. Problem solved, no need for renovation.

@13 - perhaps that's the issue. Republican male overtly-homophobic politicians want the right to fuck other Republican male overtly-homophobic politicians in public toilets without the risk of accidentally fucking someone who turns out to be a woman.

If only Artiles had said that, we'd have understood his concerns and helped him find a solution.

I don't think he is saying that trans women will attack cis women in the rest room. He is saying he doesn't want cis men pretending to be trans just to get into the womens bathroom to peep.

@20: You realize that cis men can just stroll into women's restrooms, right? A guy who plans to rape a woman in a public restroom isn't going to hesitate to violate the must-look-like-lady-to-enter rule.

@ 11 - Trans* women are women. Therefore, they should use the restroom designated for women. It really is that simple.

And what "price" do you think we pay for trans* women using women's restrooms? I mean, I get that our lines are usually longer. And trans* women using women's restrooms would lengthen the lines, albeit a statistically insignificant amount. But calling that a "price" strikes me as awfully melodramatic.

Think about all the millions of MTF transsexuals who use the ladies room a daily basis and nobody even notices.

Let's bring this issue up during the 2016 election melee to show how fucking STUPID the republicans are.

@20 - Honestly, if I were a cis man who really, really wanted to see a lady having a wee, I don't think my first thought would be to pretend to be part of a horribly-victimised community, and to risk being beaten up not just while doing my perving, but also at all points of everyday life.

But maybe I'm just lazy.

Yeah if it means enduring the microscopic possibility of some dude coming in to try to squint at me through the tiny crack in the stall while my pants are at mid-thigh then I'm willing to go there so transwomen can pee in peace!!

Wow, now I know how MLK must have felt. :P

@11: go fuck yourself, misgendering ass.

Artiles is just an awful, awful man. He ain't right in the head.

Dominic who?

When the issue comes up everyone seems worried about transwomen in women's restrooms, but people don't seem to think about the other side of the coin. What about a big, burly, bearded transman who hasn't had bottom surgery? Under that stupid proposed law, he would be required to use the women's rooms. Surely a big manly dude walking into the women's room would freak people out. What's he supposed to do, walk in and announce, "It's ok, I've got a vagina!" ?

For those of us that read National Lampoon back in the day: "A real man can hold his urine."

Make all restrooms single-gender, single-occupant like the "family restrooms." It's the more costly but the more humane option. I don't care who's in the next stall, I'm kinda busy in mine.

This is more 'crap' coming out of Florida:

http://cltampa.com/politicalanimal/archi…

Florida-the IQ never goes higher than the temperature.

@31: Let's assemble a group of the biggest, butchest, beardliest trans men we can find (bottom surgery or no bottom surgery) and have them use the ladies' room in the building housing Rep. Artiles's office. See how many complaints they get, and redirect such complaints to the guy who wants to make that the law.

I would like to see how they feel about a bunch of bearded trans men using the women's restroom. lol I don't think they are really looking at the big picture. Sure I'll use the women's restroom it is cleaner and women have better manners normally when using the restroom but I highly doubt if I asked a woman which restroom should I use that she would say the womens. I'm a bearded dude. I feel bad for all the intersex people out there that are biologically neither man or woman. People are odd. This is why trans people feel conditioned to dress a certain way. Socially we convenience people of they feel a certain way then your body image must match this correspondin gender. I think it's stupid I feel like I have to change my sex to be happy... but hell my brain can't and has never felt any other way. What the hell do you do ya know? If it was normal to just choose your gender in adulthood and not link gender to sex we wouldn't have much of an issue.

@ 28 - And some women have an issue sharing facilities with other groups of minorities. But those bigots don't get special laws to coddle them so anti-trans* bigots shouldn't, either. We should treat all bigots equally.

Sometimes it is just best to let idiots have there way. How is Rep. Frank Arties going to enforce his rules? Will a mannish looking woman have to expose her genitalia if she is suspect? Maybe Florida will need Gender Police. They can just post at restrooms and feel up anybody entering.

Rep. Frank Artiles

Where are the DAN IS TRANSPHOBIC trolls when Dan posts stuff like this?

@40: They aren't looking unless there's something they can pounce on, silly.

@8: "If my wife and my son are out and need to use the bathroom, what does she do? Are they going to cite my son for using the women's restroom?"

Meh, I wouldn't be surprised.

My cousin and his son were in Walmart, and the men's room was out of order. There was no other restroom nearby, and a child of 3 can't reliably hold it for a long drive, so my cousin took his son to pee behind a dumpster. Of course, some nosy busybody called the cops and tried to get the kid cited under a public-exposure law--technically designed to address flashers, but often used to selectively prosecute, e.g., hobos for taking a piss in back-alley trash cans.

Thankfully the cop had some sense, but I think that was just luck of the draw. I can just as easily imagine that having ended very badly if the cop who responded had been on a power trip.