TALLAHASSEE --- Despite impassioned pleas from LGBT advocates, a Florida House panel on Wednesday approved a controversial proposal that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in women鈥檚 high-school and college sports.
The move by the House Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee put Florida among the ranks of at least two-dozen other Republican-dominated state legislatures that have considered or approved measures requiring student athletes to compete according to their sex assigned at birth.
Bill sponsor Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, said the transgender athletic ban is necessary to establish parity for biologically female athletes.
鈥淭here are inherent biological differences between men and women. The 鈥楩airness in Women Sports Act鈥� supports women and girls by ensuring they have the same opportunities as men and boys to showcase their skill, strength and other athletic abilities,鈥� Tuck said before the panel鈥檚 13-4 vote in favor of the bill.
But critics of measures targeting transgender student athletes argue the proposals are rooted in fear, misunderstanding and politics.
鈥淭his bill would only marginalize and demonize the transgender community. If anything, this bill will create more unfairness, while we are trying to call it the 鈥楩airness in Women Sports Act,鈥欌�� Rep. Marie Paule Woodson, D-Hollywood, said. 鈥淲e have to treat people the way we want to be treated. We need to focus on other matters that are critical to our state, to our youth, to our seniors, to our family.鈥�
Currently, the Florida High School Athletic Association has a process for transgender students 鈥渢o participate in interscholastic athletics in a manner consistent with their gender identity and expression,鈥� a staff analysis of the bill said. The association is 鈥渘eutral鈥� on Tuck鈥檚 proposal, lobbyist Ron Book said in a text.
Rep. Carlos Guillero Smith, an Orlando Democrat who is gay, is among the LGBT activists condemning the legislation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 motivated by bigotry. It鈥檚 motivated by transphobia. And it鈥檚 not motivated, certainly, by any problems we鈥檝e had in Florida,鈥� Smith told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday.
Transgender students have openly participated in athletics in Florida since 2012, Smith said.
鈥淔lorida Republicans are re-declaring the social wars against LGBT people in the Florida Legislature. They鈥檝e lost on every other front in the courts, in the Florida Commission on Human Relations, and so they鈥檙e inventing new things to be upset about,鈥� said Smith, who does not serve on the panel that approved the bill.
Facing questions from Democrats on Wednesday, Tuck conceded that Florida does not have any reported complaints about the current process.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to wait until there is a problem to have a policy against it,鈥� she said.
But numerous speakers urged lawmakers to vote against Tuck鈥檚 proposal.
Nathan Bruemmer, a transgender man who is a former teacher and coach, warned that the bill would harm students.
鈥淭here are so many lessons in sports, but the barrage of attacks and attempts to erase through misunderstanding and false rhetoric are abhorrent,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have watched their pain and I have watched their suffering, and this will bring more of that. Celebrate play. Don鈥檛 let hate become part of the lessons of sport.鈥�
Paul Arons, a physician, argued that the proposal fails to take into account the 鈥渟cientific, medical, emotional and social realities of the young people whom it would most directly impact.鈥� The transgender ban would 鈥渋nflict stigma and humiliation and injustice鈥� on vulnerable students, Arons said.
But Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, defended the bill, pointing to biological differences between his son and daughter, who are 12-year-old twins.
鈥淔olks, this is common sense. If my son decided tomorrow that he鈥檚 now a girl, he could use his natural biological advantages to take opportunities away from biological girls,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, it does have a terrible impact on girls. This is wokeness versus science, and it鈥檚 time for common sense to come back into the room.鈥�
Rep. Susan Vald茅s, D-Tampa, noted that Tuck鈥檚 bill is identical to a 2020 Idaho law that a federal judge blocked from going into effect.
Before voting against the bill, Vald茅s offered a message to transgender students.
鈥淵ou are loved. You are valued, and your humanity is not defined by a vote of the Florida Legislature,鈥� she said.
The staff analysis also noted that three female high-school athletes in Connecticut have filed a lawsuit arguing that a policy allowing transgender females to compete against biological females has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities.
The lawsuit remains pending, as does the legal challenge to Idaho鈥檚 law.
But Florida and other Republican-led states are pushing ahead with the bans.
For example, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a similar bill into law last week. A measure passed by South Dakota lawmakers is awaiting action by Gov. Kristi Noem.
LGBT activists throughout the country are decrying the proposals, which Equality Florida characterized as 鈥渘othing short of an attack on at-risk youth designed to spread hateful stereotypes and further demonize a group of young people who need additional support and care.鈥�
Transgender young people 鈥渘eed to be affirmed and empowered, not used as political pawns,鈥� Gina Duncan, Equality Florida director of transgender equality, said in a prepared statement opposing Tuck鈥檚 bill.
鈥淭his is a community of youth who are already facing discrimination, bigotry, and violence at higher rates than their peers. Our focus should be on protecting them and providing them with the support they need to thrive, not attacking them. These lawmakers should be ashamed of how they鈥檝e decided to use kids to fuel the fearmonger machine,鈥� Duncan said.
