FL Republicans Ban Trans People From Bathrooms, Apologize for Comments

Florida Republican State Representative Webster Barnaby, who voted with other Republicans to advance a bill banning trans people from public restrooms, apologized for calling trans people “demons.”

by Evan Urquhart

The outlandish remarks of one Republican state representative are recieving more attention than a bill which would make using the restroom in public a misdemeanor for transgender people in Floriday. According to the Hill, the proposed bill, which would punish people using bathrooms not associated with their birth-assigned sex with 60 days in jail or a $500 fine, was passed out of committee on a party line vote, with all Republicans voting in favor. The Hill also reported that a second bill, which would ban all-ages drag shows, was passed out of committee alongside it.

Media attention has focused on the bizarre comments by one Republican State Representative, Webster Barnaby. Barnaby identifies as a Christian and referred to the trans people who addressed the committee to speak against the bill as “demons and imps.” As well as “mutants.”

screenshot from Politico

Mainstrem media attention has largely focused on the state rep’s comments, and his subsequent apology, and the response of other legislators from both parties, who seemed flustered to see the extreme rhetoric of far right media make its way into a committee hearing. Trans people in Forida are widely considered to be more at risk from the fact that extremists are elected to Republican office and empowered to pass laws that make using the restroom punishable by two months in jail than they are from the words of those officials, however crazy.