There’s a common misconception that once marriage equality becomes a national standard, the struggle the LGBTQ+ community faces will be over. But as the bills emulating the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act in Indiana and Arkansas show, discrimination of LGBTQ+ people goes way beyond their ability to marry and extends to denial of service.
Denying business to people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity truly makes no sense, especially given how so many businesses have had to close because of their reputations for discrimination. Just because a law justifies discrimination does not mean the market forces won’t act against a business that decides to deny service. Making it possible for businesses to voice their disapproval of marriage equality through denial of services just makes a state look bad.
While many believe marriage equality is the only issue that affects LGBTQ+ Americans, a focus on marriage equality distracts from the fact that the LGBTQ+ community is still fighting for respect and more general equality. Many of these issues deal with the often forgotten “T” in LGBTQ+, which represents the transgender community. These include fights over the most basic rights, such as being allowed to use public bathrooms. Transgender people can experience problems in gender-specific restrooms, which forces many to resort to completely avoiding public restrooms. This can affect their health and cause urinary tract infections, dehydration and kidney infections. No one should have to cause themselves health problems because they feel unsafe using public restrooms.
Sometimes within the college bubble it can be hard to see how life is outside it. In many parts of the country, discrimination against LGBTQ+ people is a fact of life. Luckily, in Alachua County, there is a human rights ordinance that regulates discrimination, but scary things are happening in the Florida Legislature that undermine the rights of trans people.
Even though marriage equality was recently legalized in Florida, there are still no statewide anti-discrimination measures that protect discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. With House Bill 583, the so-called “bathroom bill,” the Florida Legislature is attempting to pass a bill that would force trans individuals to use the bathroom of their legal gender and allows them to be sent to prison for up to 60 days if they get caught. This bill also allows owners of public accommodations to be sued for allowing trans people to use the bathroom that they feel most comfortable using. Essentially, this forces trans people to either avoid public restrooms, risking health problems, or be sued or imprisoned.
The policy clearly seeks to humiliate trans people. It is dangerous enough to be a trans person as it is, with trans women of color being at a particularly high risk of being victims of murder or other hate crimes. HB 583 makes discrimination legally acceptable and even encouraged to avoid lawsuits. It would penalize people who want to run inclusive businesses.
In a time when trans people need to be protected and supported, it ostracizes them.
Of course, the root of this discrimination cannot be legislated away. It’s naive to think laws will make people more inclusive and accepting overnight. The underlying prejudices will be here for a long time to come. But we can at least put standards in place for how trans people should be treated, starting with the ability to use a public restroom.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science freshman. Her column appears on Tuesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 4/7/2015 under the headline “Long road to LGBTQ+ equality demonstrated by FL's trans bathroom bill”]
