Both trans folks and gender-nonconforming cis folks say they face rampant harassment in public restrooms under Florida’s anti-trans Safety in Private Spaces Act.
The law, which took effect last July after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed it in May 2023, requires people to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth at state colleges, prisons, airports, beaches, city parks, and public schools. The law only applies to facilities run by the state, but theDaily Beast reports that multiple transgender and nonbinary Floridians say they have nonetheless been confronted, harassed, and intimidated in public restrooms located inside private businesses.
Related:
Gina Duncan with LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Florida says that the “general public is misinterpreting these bills.”
Duncan recounted the experience of one transgender woman who was denied entry to a restroom at a local cinema, which would not be covered by HB 1521, by a man who she said had decided to monitor the bathrooms and challenge “anyone who, in his opinion, appeared to be transgender.”
Seven people told the Daily Beast about the increased harassment they’ve faced since HB 1521 took effect. Rajee Narinesingh recounted being asked to leave a women’s bathroom in a restaurant by another diner who told her, “You don’t belong in this bathroom.” Narinesingh, who has been assaulted multiple times for being transgender, described the physical symptoms of panic she experienced in that moment.
“When you have traumatic things happen to you and the chance that it can happen again, that fear is real, and it’s palpable,” she said. “After years and years of struggling and horrific things happening, dealing with discrimination and injustice over and over again, it builds up.”
Cielo Sunsarae and Lex Damm-Loring’s experiences also illustrate the impossible position that trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people in Florida find themselves in under HB 1521. Sunsarae, who is nonbinary and transmasculine and was also a 2023 candidate for LGBTQ Nation Heroes, said they were confronted in a women’s sauna at their gym in November by a woman who demanded to know whether they were a man or a woman. Even if Sunsarae had not been in a private gym, they would have been in compliance with the law — but that did not stop a stranger from harassing them for their appearance.
Likewise, Damm-Loring, who is a trans woman, opted to use the men’s bathroom in congruence with the law while attending a December 2023 performance of The Nutcracker at a local state college. She described a father entering the bathroom with his young son while she was washing her hands. “Daddy, why is there a mommy in here?” the boy asked, a question Damm-Loring pointed out was ironic since it’s what GOP lawmakers think the law prevents.
But the law’s effects are not limited to trans people. Multiple cisgender people also reported being harassed in public restrooms. Kat Phoenix, a cisgender woman, said a woman tried to block her from taking her autistic son into a restroom in September. And Jude Speegle, who is trans, said that his cisgender husband faces constant harassment because of his androgynous appearance.
Damm-Loring and others said they now take extreme measures, like neglecting to drink water and even peeing in bottles in their cars, to avoid using public restrooms. Some said they even avoid going out in public altogether.
“It’s just an effort to force us out of society,” Damm-Loring said of Florida’s anti-trans bathroom law.
“This is how these bills seep into society,” Duncan said. “Transgender people are being demonized and challenged in just trying to carry out our everyday lives.”
