Yesterday, Representative Frank Artiles filed HB 583, which would prohibit transgender Floridians, including those who have gone through sexual reassignment surgery, from using the restroom of their gender.

Representative David Richardson said, “This extreme bill would take Florida in the wrong direction. In order to attract the highest quality workers, we should be empowering our cities and businesses to promote inclusiveness and diversity among their employees. This bill would do the exact opposite, overriding local ordinances and forcing cities and businesses to discriminate against their own workers. Putting the transgender community in harm’s way and hurting Florida’s economic competitiveness for partisan political reasons is simply unacceptable.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant said, “House Bill 583 discriminates against our state’s transgender community and could not be more out-of-step with mainstream Florida values. Enshrining discrimination into Florida law is bad for business and hurts every Floridian’s right to live in a free and just society.”