Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill on Tuesday banning transgender girls and women from competing in women’s scholastic sports. (Elementary school athletes are not included.)
“In Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports, and boys are going to play boys’ sports,” DeSantis said, according to the Miami Herald.
DeSantis signed the bill on the first day of Pride Month, but he denied that he was trying to send a message with the timing.
“It’s not a message to anything other than saying we’re going to protect fairness in women’s sports,” he said.
The same day, the LGBTQ civil rights group the Human Rights Campaign announced its intention to sue the state.
“Governor DeSantis and Florida lawmakers are legislating based on a false, discriminatory premise that puts the safety and well-being of transgender children on the line,” the organization’s president, Alphonso David, said in a statement. “Transgender kids are kids; transgender girls are girls. Like all children, they deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends and be a part of a team.”
Florida is the latest and most populous state to pass a law banning transgender girls and women from school sports, joining Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia.
South Dakota also implemented a similar law through executive order.
The American Civil Liberties Union announced recently that it would be filing a lawsuit against West Virginia for its transgender ban. The ACLU has also promised more lawsuits were to come for any states that pass similar legislation.
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