Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bigoted bill barring transgender athletes from participating in high school, college athletics

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday that would bar transgender student-athletes from competing alongside other women and girls.

In front of a crowd in Jacksonville on the first day of Pride Month, DeSantis signed the bill into law, combating the non-issue of transgender women gaining an unfair advantage over their fellow athletes. The research on the subject is clear: There is no evidence of transgender women and girls beating out people who were assigned female at birth.

The new law did back off from an early provision that could have required humiliating genital examinations of children who simply wish to participate in athletics. Still, Florida’s bill is one of 35 across the United States that serve to do nothing but alienate children and make the state look bigoted on the national stage.

“Ultimately, this bill will not just hurt transgender kids; it will hurt all Floridians because the consequences of this law — economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation — will ripple across the state,” said Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David. “Let’s be clear here: transgender children exist and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Legislators across the country have neglected to name any examples of the sky falling based on transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports. That is because those examples simply don’t exist, and athletic organizations have welcomed transgender athletes’ participation for years without incident.”

State House Rep. Anna Eskamani shared a statement calling the bill “cruel.”

Like the state’s recently passed laws against the right of free assembly and the rights of private platforms to ban users, Florida can expect to spend years — untold amounts of taxpayers’ dollars — fighting this case in court.

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This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2021.