The legislation takes aim directly at trans individuals using the restroom or locker rooms, threatening those who “knowingly” and “willfully” enter facilities designated for the “opposite biological sex” with prison time. A first offense would count as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Those caught using the bathroom in repeated offenses, however, could be convicted as felons and face up to five years in prison.
It’ll be interesting to see how this aligns with the Full Faith and Credit clause for someone who updates their birth certificate from another state that allows for that then uses the bathroom that aligns with said certificate.
I can see places cheaping out and just having one bathroom for both that’s the size of just one of them, but it would be a small price to pay to get rid of this terrorizing of trans people…or just anyone who doesn’t appear to fit into specific gender roles.
That… already happens. Tons of smaller restaurants/cafes I’ve been to have a solitary nongendered restroom with one toilet and a sink.
Yes, but as you said, those are smaller places that don’t need more than that as there aren’t that many people there at a given time.
at my workplace when I first transitioned there was a single gender-neutral bathroom in the entire building, and it was frequently occupied because every white woman in the building had the same idea to use it as the “pooping” toilet … so when I was early transition and didn’t pass, instead of use the women’s restroom on the same floor as my colleagues (where I might run into them and make them uncomfortable), I would have to walk to another floor of the building to use another business’s women’s restroom so I didn’t run the risk of seeing anyone I know.
I understand trans people aren’t that common and it can feel absurd to have all this infrastructure for a small minority you never see, but … like, sometimes we do exist and need to use the toilet that was built and set aside for us to use. (I’m sure people with disabilities feel the same way, as the gender-neutral toilet is also often the one built to be ADA compliant and accessible.)