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So here I sit, less than three weeks away from a trip to Orlando, FL for a ten day vacation, and suddenly I have to worry about some asshole objecting to my using the Lady’s bathroom.
Because it’s “safer” to force me to use a bathroom because I am “a person belonging, at birth, to the biological sex which has the specific reproductive role of producing sperm.”
Who cares if I am a woman. Who cares if I can no longer use a urinal. Who cares if I am liable to be beaten to death in the Men’s room.
Yeah, thinking this may be my last trip to the so-called Sunshine State.
Boycott all things Florida.
Comments
Orlando
Last time I was at the House of Mouse was the turn of the century and Florida was not that bad back then. They were actually relatively trans-tolerant if my partner's experience at Hazelden was any measure.
My partner and I have no reason to go back there at this point as her parents left Florida and have passed also.
What is up with this current wave of hate that is in Florida? I think it is a generational thing also as it has been 23 years now or so since my visit and 20 years is a generation.
*sad face*
The House of Mouse and Ron D
Wasn't the origin of his fight with Disney because of their pro LGBT stance?
Millions of Boomers have retired to ghetto's like 'The Villages' in FLA. Those are the core GOP voters but they are as they say, a dying breed. The party is open about having lost any connection to young voters... And they are going out of their way to make it harder for college students to vote by banning voting places on campus. Shotgun in the foot anyone?
Samantha
Boomers
Well that makes sense. They are retired so they can kick back and have nothing better to do than to make trouble for us.
I am on the borderline between Boomer and Gen X I think, being very close to the end of Boomer so attitudes can overlap quite a bit. I grew up in a 'Blue State' as well as a big city and that kinda tips the balance for me.
Population is the key. Some of the Red States are so low in population that some wealthy Liberal can literally pay enough people to move there for at least a year and vote in a more favorable majority and then move out again if they want to. This is a weird case where it is technically feasible to just buy an election.
All Those Changes.
For me, its been almost 20 years and all my documents now say female save for my California Birth Certificate. There it is simple and costs $100. I've been negligent because I have all the paperwork laying around somewhere here. I'm so old that I might not live long enough for all the changes to take place. Should I have completed it all? Only time will tell.
Gwen
Gwen
All of my documents……
Including my California birth certificate state female, but that is not the basis of the Florida law.
I’m not sure how they would test for it, but they are basing their law on DNA with the stipulation being that what matters is the gender determined at birth based on whether your body genetically produces eggs or sperm. I wonder how they would interpret intersexed people, or those who are incapable of producing either eggs or sperm? Like me, lol.
Anyway, this is entirely due to a reactionary minority that controls the state government in Florida and other states. I am not worried about Disney, although I have had to endure stares and comments from assholes visiting the parks before. I have always been well treated by the staff and corporate entity at Disney. What worries me is outside of the parks. Florida has a substantial number of reactionary retirees, and a high percentage of red-neck assholes away from specific metropolitan areas. Kissimmee-St. Cloud being a good example of that.
My spouse and I visit Florida several times each year. I grew up there, and still have relatives who live there - unfortunately I am no longer as close with many of them since I transitioned, which surprises me as my cousins and I were always more like siblings prior to that. I guess you never really know someone until you transition!
The worst thing is that I will need to move my boat now as well.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
The Gender Police
Is it even possible for one's birth certificate to be revealed to those not family or spouse? D. Eden, I question if there are bathroom guards who are going to say anything. I wish you a safe trip and hope you enjoy yourself. Personally too much sand for me. Florida was developed from the way the ocean current carries silt and deposited it to make Florida.
Hugs D. Eden
Barb
If life is so worthless, why do God and Satan both want it?
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
It’s the assholes in the general public…..
That you have to worry about. I know, I had to put up with this in North Carolina some years back. All it takes is one person calling the police or making a scene. I had to carry my birth certificate with me for a year in North Carolina as the police could require it in order to not be arrested.
Florida will not even accept a birth certificate as proof based on the law that just passed. No idea how they plan on enforcing it, but the law states DNA.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Bathroom Fascists
Yes, busy body Karens will call security/police on any transwomen they spot. Even cis women aren't safe. Several lesbians with more butch clothes, hairstyles, etc, have found police banging on the stall doors to physically yank them out and trespass them. Even a few straight women who aren't "feminine enough" have been bothered or berated as "trannies". :(
Could be worse
At least for the transmen who want to obey the bathroom law.
I guarantee pretty much 100% of them who are on hormones would have security called on them trying to use the womens' room and rightly so.
Ironically, this will give actual genetic men the excuse to invade the ladies room as they can claim they are just trying to follow the law.
If Someone Complains
Do you have to show them your pussy and your breasts to be allowed to have a pee in the Ladies loo?
Show your genitals
Not that simple, I'm sure.
I am surprised they did not require all public restrooms have a rapid genetic test station and/or an airport scanner you have to pass through that has the whole gender blot out removed. Damn unfunded mandates!
/sarcasm
Passing
This is NOT saying that the law is anything but BS.
It is TOTALLY BS.
But I am suggesting for those who pass through certain states nowadays must be damn passable just for their own safety.
It is BS but passing can now be more of a necessity than not in some circumstances.
Back to the bad old days again.
I will not give Floriday another dime if I can help it.
Sadly, I like the idea of getting to see a rocket launch in person and my old college roommate lives in Florida so it would be nice to see him again (yes, he knows about me, turns out he is gay, who knew?!).
But given the current climate I will likely have to miss out on both of those pleasures on principle.
Well, I gotta say
Gattaca probably never saw this coming... /facepalm
Hugs,
Diana
ps I think I like Illinois over the rest of the Midwest. Currently listening to my newest, most favoritest radio station online: MeTV FM 87.7!
So...
Given their new law, and their other outrages, why are you going at all?
My sister retired from Florida State University about a dozen years ago and then moved to Ocala, where she still lives. I've never visited her there and I don't plan to. We are both native Californians, and she is more liberal that I am (yes, it's possible), so I can't understand how she can stand it there. I guess the considerably lower cost of living convinces her.
Sister
I would suggest you look at her being there as being on the front lines as necessary sacrifice to keeping the opposition in check.
After all, if there is to be any hope of deposing Death Sentence as governor they will need every liberal vote they can get.
Doesn't apply to businesses
Just took a further look at the bill and they removed businesses so it is just limited to restrooms and changing facilities in state and local government buildings, schools, colleges and detention centers.
Yes, that is true…….
But only because they couldn’t pass the portion of the law that included restaurants and other businesses, not because they didn’t try to include them. Even so, the law as written is just the first step - and it will simply spur on the assholes who already object to someone like me using the ladies room.
Give them an inch, and they will push their righteous indignation the whole nine yards. Even if they can’t legally do anything, it will I’ve cause to those ignorant and rude people who already give me dirty looks just because I exist; the kind I get every time I stand up and they suddenly realize that I am 5’10” tall in my bare feet. Add in a three or four inch heel, and I kind of stand out. But I like how I look in heels, so screw ‘em!
It doesn’t matter that the law is only for public buildings, to the so called Christian Right, they will try to make it apply everywhere.
The truly hilarious thing, is that the idiots who claim that he reason transgender women are in the ladies room is to sexually assault other women are either too stupid to realize, or simply don’t care, that we are the ones in danger.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Business exemption
As usual it would be a thorny thing that could get businesses sued if a business accidentally mistakenly kicked out somebody who was non-trans.
It is bad enough that children and young adults are stigmatized in colleges/schools for being trans as a result of this law.
And again, transmen would be in the ladies room which is totally unacceptable, especially if they went through the trouble of getting a really good phalloplasty.
BTW, 5'10'' is not that tall hon. The beancounter at one job I worked at was 6'2" and her office was giraffe themed as she has a sense of humor about herself. I've seen taller at my work too.
I visited South Korea back around 2005-6 and am kinda tall for an Asian woman at being a bit under 5'8" in a country whose women have an average height of around 5'3" and I was treated normally, nobody stared at me or anything.
As a matter of fact, judging by the behavior of the hotel staff when helping me with my luggage they were a bit appalled I was managing my own luggage and insisted on helping me to load my suitcases into a taxi for home.
While travelling by bullet train one very kind English speaking businessman (I think) kindly help me lug one of my suitcases onto the train before the train took off. Those trains do NOT wait long after stopping. You barely have like 15 seconds to get on before they close the doors.
Edit: The only time I have been 'body shamed' was when I was buying shoes and I bought a pair that was size 8 and a half and a couple of busy body women commented on the size of my feet. That is, until I stood up and they realized what my height was. Upon which they made their apologies in the form of giving me a 5 dollar coupon for that store as soon as they realized I was buying the shoes and realized my shoe size is pretty proportionate to my height.