Florida officials add harsh penalties to transgender bathroom law for college students, teachers

The Florida State Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to add harsher penalties to a new law barring transgender students and staff at state colleges from using facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with their gender identity.

The proposal adopted by the board — whose members are appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — during a meeting Wednesday outlines how employees should be disciplined should they violate House Bill 1521, the Florida law that requires individuals to use bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth.

DeSantis signed the measure into law in May. It went into effect in July.

Under the rule adopted Wednesday, institutions within Florida’s college system must update their codes of conduct by April 1 to reflect that on-campus restrooms and changing facilities are “designated for exclusive use by males or females” based on sex assigned at birth. Schools are not required to have a unisex restroom but must indicate if one is available.

Employees who use a restroom or locker room that does not align with their sex assigned at birth, despite being asked to leave, may face verbal and written warnings, suspension without pay and possible termination, according to the rule adopted Wednesday.

Schools within the state’s college system — which consists of 28 public community and state colleges and is separate from Florida’s university system — will be forced to fire employees who violate the new restrictions more than once.

“The disciplinary action taken should be based on the specific circumstances of the offense,” the rule states, “however, a second documented offense must result in a termination.”

The rule adopted Wednesday also applies to student housing facilities, meaning transgender students living in college dorms will be unable to use restrooms or changing rooms consistent with their gender identity.

Most speakers during a public comment period at Wednesday’s board meeting said they opposed the rule, which they argued would further harm Florida’s transgender community. 

One mother said her teenage transgender child, who will graduate from high school next year, has opted not to apply to any colleges in Florida because House Bill 1521 and other recently passed legislation targets transgender people and has made them fearful for their life.

“It’s a brand new level of fear and intimidation that ultimately has one goal, and that is to root transgender people out of the Florida College System,” said Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Florida state representative and current policy advisor for Equality Florida who was present at Wednesday’s meeting.

“It is death by a million cuts, where you just created such a toxic and hostile environment for trans people in our state that they no longer are going to want to call Florida home,” Smith, who in April launched a bid for state Senate, told The Hill on Wednesday. “They’re just going to leave.”

Wednesday’s board decision is the latest in a series of moves state officials and policymakers have taken against transgender people in Florida. At least four anti-LGBTQ bills became law in Florida this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, including one that bans state employees and contractors from using pronouns or bathrooms that match their gender identity.

Transgender students and teachers in Orange County this month were informed by the school district that they will be required to use either single-use restrooms or restrooms that correspond to their sex assigned at birth during the upcoming school year.

Lexi Lonas contributed.