Women's restroom ‘invasion?' Florida attorney general investigates gym complaint. What we know

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis and lawmakers in the Republican-led Florida Legislature have fought to keep transgender people out of bathrooms that correspond to their gender expression, saying that women and children must be protected from attacks. But until recently, these restrictions only applied to schools and state and local government buildings and not private businesses.
Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening legal action against a popular South Florida gym for allowing transgender women in the women's locker room.
'Let me be clear: Florida law protects spaces designated for women,' Uthmeier said in a May 12 video posted to X, formerly Twitter. 'No local ordinance or woke corporate policy can override that.'
What's the law?
Uthmeier told Life Time Fitness, a luxury gym at the Downtown Palm Beach Gardens retail and restaurant plaza that's equipped with a rooftop pool and indoor pickleball courts, that if it did not immediately reverse its "dangerous policy," his office would take "swift legal action."
It is unclear what the action will be, what incident was brought to Uthmeier's attention, or whether any claims were substantiated.
Life Time's national policy, updated in January 2025, says members in jurisdictions where gender-identity protections exist may use the locker room corresponding to their gender identity. Otherwise, the company goes with the gender listed on a person's official ID or birth certificate.
The company is dedicated to inclusion. "We embrace our commitment to recognize, elevate and empower women and the BIPOC, disabled and LGBTQIA+ communities to ensure all are equally heard, accepted, respected, supported and valued to fully participate," the website says.
In 2024, Life Time revoked the membership of a 52-year-old transgender woman after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey subpoenaed the company and called for criminal liability. The Life Time manager cited the woman's social media posts on the subject as part of a safety concern, and not her use of the women's locker room.
The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits sex-based discrimination in public accommodations, but does not define 'sex' or explicitly address locker room access. In recent years, bills have changed some Florida statutes to explicitly define "sex" as biologically male or female.
In 2023, Florida lawmakers passed HB 1521, which bars trans people from entering certain bathrooms that do not match their gender. It applies to bathrooms at state or local government-owned facilities such as public schools, colleges, universities, state and local government buildings, prisons and jails, but not private businesses or publicly owned areas.
Under the law, people who enter bathrooms designated for the 'opposite sex' could face trespassing charges. The bill includes exceptions for situations involving bathroom use by children under age 12, seniors and people with developmental disabilities. Single-stall unisex facilities are permitted, but schools must inform parents and guardians that they are available.
The law also applies to "changing facilities," which HB 1521 defines as "a room in which two or more persons may be in a state of undress in the presence of others, including, but not limited to, a dressing room, fitting rooms, locker room, changing room and showers."
There have been very few reported incidents nationwide of trans people assaulting or harassing anyone in a bathroom.
However, under the bathroom bans, transgender people are at higher risk of harassment no matter which door they choose, according to a February study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
"Research shows that transgender people are the ones who face harm from others in these spaces, including being denied access, verbal harassment, and physical assault," said lead author Jody Herman, Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. "Moreover, they are at greater risk of harm when laws require them to use restrooms according to their assigned sex at birth.'
Bathroom bans can also lead to harassment of people who do not conform to traditional ideas of gender. On May 3, Ansley Baker — who is biologically or "cis" female, 6 feet tall with short hair — was in the bathroom at the Liberty Hotel in Boston when she says a security guard banged on the door, confronted her in the stall, and demanded ID. She was forced to leave even after producing identification. The guard has been suspended, and Baker has filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office.
Critics point out that while bathrooms provide privacy, cis women may be exposed to male genitalia in communal changing rooms and showers without consent.
Since his second term began, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order barring transgender student athletes from playing women's sports and cutting off federal money for schools that do not comply. The state of Maine sued over the blocked funds, forcing the administration to back down, but a lawsuit against the state for violating the administration's definition of Title IX is ongoing.
Another executive order declared gender-affirming care as harmful and directed the secretary of Health and Human Services to end the "chemical and surgical mutilation of children," blocked health insurance for the federal government, the Department of Defense and the Post Office from covering gender-affirming care and required the attorney general to "prioritize enforcement of protections against female genital mutilation." That order is also being challenged in court.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a ban on transgender people serving in the military to go into effect while court challenges to the ban continue.
The administration has declared that there are only two sexes, male and female, and a person's sex cannot be changed.
Contributing: Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida AG investigating Life Time Fitness over locker room policies