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Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1521 restricting facility access to birth sex and mandating birth-sex prison placement

On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1521, the "Facility Requirements Based on Sex" act, requiring restrooms and changing facilities in schools, colleges, and government buildings to be designated for exclusive use by a person's sex assigned at birth. The law makes willful entry into a facility for the opposite sex, plus refusal to leave when asked, a criminal trespass, and requires domestic-violence shelters and correctional facilities to house people by birth sex rather than gender identity. Enacted as Chapter 2023-106, it took effect July 1, 2023.

Jurisdiction
Florida
Location
Tallahassee, Florida

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 17, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1521, the "Facility Requirements Based on Sex" act, requiring restrooms and changing facilities in public schools, colleges and universities, and other government-owned buildings to be designated for the exclusive use of one "biological sex." Under the law, a person who willfully enters a restroom or changing facility designated for the opposite sex and refuses to leave when asked commits a criminal trespass. The measure was enacted as Chapter 2023-106 and took effect July 1, 2023.

The statute also requires domestic-violence centers and correctional and juvenile-detention facilities to house people according to sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity, with a narrow exception for individuals with a documented, verifiable disorder of sex development. It directs state-licensed entities to submit compliance documentation and authorizes the Florida attorney general to bring civil enforcement actions. DeSantis signed the bill as part of a broader package of legislation targeting transgender Floridians, declaring at the signing that the state would "remain a refuge of sanity."

Updates

2023-09-29 — Transgender plaintiffs sued over HB 1521 [3]

A group of transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida challenging HB 1521, alleging the facility restrictions are discriminatory and violate free-speech rights, and asking the court to block enforcement.

2025-03-19 — Florida Capitol Police arrested a transgender woman under the law [4]

Capitol police arrested Marcy Rheintgen for using the Florida Capitol's women's restroom in a planned act of civil disobedience against HB 1521, in what advocates said was the first known arrest under any state's criminal transgender-bathroom-use ban; the case was dismissed in June 2025. Recorded as its own entry given the distinct actor, date, and independent newsworthiness (entries/2025/03/19/fl-targeting-marginalized-communities-32438ccf.yaml).

Why we recorded this

Equal protection and nondiscrimination bar the government from singling out a class of people for exclusion from public life. HB 1521 designates restrooms and changing facilities in schools, colleges, and government buildings for exclusive use by "biological sex," makes a transgender person's refusal to leave a criminal trespass, and requires shelters and prisons to house people by birth sex rather than gender identity. This archive records when a state writes the exclusion of a marginalized group into law and attaches criminal penalties to their everyday use of public space.

Sources

  1. CS/HB 1521: Facility Requirements Based on Sex — The Florida Senate primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. DeSantis signs into law restrictions on trans Floridians' access to treatments and bathrooms — CNN secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  3. A Florida bathroom law faces a federal court challenge — WUSF secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  4. Trans student's arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first — NBC News investigative accessed July 19, 2026

See also