Yesterday, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed HB1521—a bill that would criminalize trans people from using public restrooms, effective July 1.

Introduced on Mar. 6 and sponsored by Republican Sanford area Rep. Rachel Plakon, the bill is intended to “protect children in public bathroom facilities.” Critics of the bill—now a law—deem it to be an attack on trans people.

Earlier this year in January, during an MSNBC interview with Jonathan Capehart, actress and trans advocate Laverne Cox shared her thoughts on what is behind the rising wave of attacks on trans people. “It’s always been about limiting the liberty and bodily autonomy of trans people of all ages,” she said.

HB1521 states that “females and males” must use a restroom that is “respective to their sex” as means of maintaining public safety. HB1521 puts trans people in danger of going to the restroom in public facilities because of the definitions of “sex” in the bill. Previous bills targeting trans people from using the restroom define “sex” as one that is “assigned at birth,” but HB1521 takes it much further.

The definition of “sex” in HB1521 is classified as “female and male” with “a specific reproductive role,” that is determined “by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.” What makes this extreme is that for trans people whose legal paperwork reflect their gender identity, they are still vulnerable to the bill.

Even definitions of what qualifies as public casts a wide net on which bathrooms could be a dangerous facility for trans people to use. Defined as spaces that are “owned and leased by [Florida],” restrooms that are public include airports, convention centers, schools, parks, shopping malls, stadiums, and more.

Should a trans person be reported to the facility and refuse to leave or not comply, penalties will be qualified as a trespass under Florida’s statute of Burglary and Trespass, which would incriminate a trans person up to one year. The jail will “likely [be] a jail of the wrong gender identity, which will put trans people in immense danger of sexual assault,” LGBTQ rights journalist Erin Reed wrote in her newsletter Erin In The Morning.

People using restrooms who are accused of being trans also will be obligated to undergo genitalia exams, DNA testing, and other invasive procedures.

In a video posted by Twitter user @ThoughtsFromDev last month during the HB1521 debate hearing, members of the House were on their cell phones, laughing with each other and paying no regard to Democratic Rep. Marie Woodson of House District 105 as she shared her concerns with the bill.

“This video is symbolic of how Florida politicians feel about [trans rights],” the account tweeted.

Gov. DeSantis, who posed with smiling children behind him, signed HB1521 into law yesterday among three other anti-trans laws, including a ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth and trans adults provided by nurse practitioners, anti-drag obscenity law, and a ‘Don’t Say Gay’ expansion law.

Yesterday also happened to be International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia.  People who are LGBTQ and those who are allies to the community feel afraid and betrayed.

“This heinous and horrific move is but the latest step in a sweeping campaign of hate and discrimination by the DeSantis administration against LGBTQ+ people for crass political gain,” said Lambda Legal’s Deputy Legal Director for Policy Kristine Kippins in a press release statement yesterday. “By signing these bills on this day, Gov. DeSantis is enshrining his hateful motives into law at the cost of the needs, lives, and futures of Florida’s children.”

Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director of nonprofit Media Matters for America took it to TikTok yesterday to voice her concerns over Gov. DeSantis’ sweeping of signing anti-trans bills. Drennen, who is trans, says that although she doesn’t live in Florida, it is a state that is meaningful to her. From going to Disneyworld with her family, visiting her grandparents in Florida, seeing her friends in Tallahassee, “It’s really scary knowing that I will never be able to safely go back to that state,” she said. “I [had] wanted to see the everglades someday.”

In another TikTok by Florida’s House District 106 candidate Joe Saunders explaining his disapproval of HB1521, a commenter echoed his sentiment, saying, “It’s hard to stay in a state that makes it dangerous to be your true self. The lax gun laws & anti-LGBTQ laws make it open season on us.”