Florida's Board of Education is forcing state colleges to fire employees who don't use bathrooms of their assigned sex at birth

• Florida's State Board of Education approved new bathroom restrictions for college employees on Wednesday.
• The rule says colleges should fire employees who don't use the bathroom of their assigned sex.
• It also applies to students living in college dorms. 

The Florida State Board of Education voted to approve a new rule on Wednesday that features hefty consequences for state college employees who use bathrooms not of their assigned sex at birth, forcing colleges to fire employees after two incidents. 

The new rule goes beyond the sweeping legislation Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in May, House Bill 1521, which restricted access to restrooms but only vaguely stated that employees found in violation "are subject to discipline." 

Now, the board's newly approved rule makes it clear that "a second documented offense must result in termination" if an employee doesn't use the restroom or changing facilities that align with their biological sex at birth. 

The proposal for the rule also said: "Student housing facilities owned or operated by the institution or by the institution's direct support organization are also subject to this rule," meaning state college students living in dorms could find themselves in the crosshairs of the board's harsh new rule. 

Florida's Board of Education voted to approve the rule during a meeting on Wednesday, which was live streamed on The Florida Channel.

The Florida state college system, which includes 28 public community and state schools and serves nearly 650,000 students, is separate from the state university system, which includes the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida. Florida state colleges include Broward College, Gulf Coast State College, and North Florida College. 

Florida has become a battleground for gender and sexuality issues since governor and GOP presidential candidate DeSantis began signing laws directly targeting LGBTQ+ communities.

The Republican agenda in the state has received national attention and scrutiny for banning certain books in classrooms, removing a variety of race, gender, sex, and sexuality content from school curriculum, and restricting preferred pronoun usage.