Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a controversial law on Tuesday that prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in school-wide women’s sports on the grounds that in this way the “integrity” of those competitions is protected.
At a public event in Jacksonville, North Florida, DeSantis signed SB 1028 and noted that now in Florida “girls are going to play with girls and boys are going to play with boys.”
“We are going to be based on biology and not ideology when it comes to sports,” he added.
The law, which takes effect on July 1, requires girls, young men and women to state their biological sex through their birth certificate to compete in a team.
Only transgender elementary school girls are saved from the ban.
The law passed despite the objections of its opponents the parliamentary process.
The two houses of the Florida Congress are dominated by the Republican Party, to which DeSantis belongs, who is a supporter of former President Donald Trump and in this legislature has carried out a battery of ultra-conservative laws.
Opponents of this law argue that it is not only discriminatory but unnecessary and warn that it will further alienate a community, the transgender, which is already marginalized.
The signing of this text coincides with the first day of gay pride month.
“Terrifying,” State Representative Carlos Smith, a Democrat who identifies as Latino and openly gay, wrote on Twitter. “On the first day of LGBTQ Pride, Governor DeSantis signs SB1028 that prohibits trans girls from participating in school sports.”
“This fuels transphobia and puts vulnerable children at risk for no reason.”
Meanwhile, The Human Rights Campaign, an organization that defends the rights of LGBTQ people, announced shortly after that it will sue the legislation in court.
“Governor DeSantis and Florida legislators are legislating on a false and discriminatory premise that puts the safety and well-being of transgender children at risk,” wrote Alphonso David, president of this NGO.
“Like all girls, they deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends and be part of a team.”
The Florida Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement Tuesday that with this law its Republican colleagues rejected “both science and reason” and attacked “openly minors in the LGBTQ + community without a single element to prove that there is a problem.” with transgender people in female school sports.
Democrats stressed that there has not been a single case of complaint or incident involving the participation of a transgender athlete in school competitions.
They also stressed that Republicans to help the very young should be concerned and act on “incidents of harassment, violence and suicidal tendencies” that are growing in the state and criticized the “degrading” language used in the drafting of SB 1208. .
Prior to this law, Florida school sports association regulations existed for the participation of transgender athletes.
Florida thus becomes the largest state yet to ban trans women from participating in women’s sports competitions, joining a handful of other Republican-ruled states that recently implemented similar legislation.
Idaho, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi have already passed similar legislation.
With information from AFP and EFE
