Florida bill would limit transgender women in sports - Bay News 9

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On Tuesday, the Florida House convenes to debate a GOP-proposed ban on transgender female athletes joining girls and womens athletic teams in high school and college sports.

What You Need To Know

House Bill 1475 currently in the Florida House would affect transgender student athletes if passed

It would ban athletes born male from competing in female sports

Republican lawmakers made the bill a priority following President Biden's executive order on transgender athletes

Florida now joins more than 30 other states with bills aiming to force transgender athletes to play on teams for their sex assigned at birth.

The Republican-backed House Bill 1475 is set to be heard on the House floor this week. In the bill, lawmakers are proposing a ban on athletes born male, from competing in female sports, but it allows anyone born female to compete in any sport.

Rep. Chris Latvala says the bill is based in science.

“Boys and men are faster and stronger than women. That’s just genetics and that’s just science,” he said. “We’re not targeting the LGBT community and we’re not targeting the trans community. We’re just, in my mind, we’re protecting women’s access to sports.”

Supporters of the LGBTQ community say the bill is just discriminatory. Tampa Bay Rowdies player Zach Steinberger is a member of the LGBTQ organization Athlete Ally. While he says as a straight man he can’t identify personally with those trans athletes, he plans to continue to fight for their rights.

“No matter what you identify as, no matter what or how you’re born it’s something that should be a safe and free environment," he said. "And to try and take that away from somebody is, that’s dismantling to me. That is so un-American."

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issued this response to the legislation:

“The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports. This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition.

The NCAA has a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports. Our approach — which requires testosterone suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women’s sports — embraces the evolving science on this issue and is anchored in participation policies of both the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Inclusion and fairness can coexist for all student-athletes, including transgender athletes, at all levels of sport. Our clear expectation as the Association’s top governing body is that all student-athletes will be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them.

When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected. We will continue to closely monitor these situations to determine whether NCAA championships can be conducted in ways that are welcoming and respectful of all participants.”

The United States Tennis Association told Spectrum News that it supports the NCAA's position, and that could affect tournaments scheduled for Florida.

The NCAA Tennis Championships are currently set to be held at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona in May. HB 1475, if passed, could undo that should the NCAA choose to pull out as a result of it. @MyNews13
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) April 13, 2021

Lawmakers said the bill was made a priority during this legislative session as a response to President Joe Biden’s executive order about transgender athletes.

Democrats are pushing back against this legislation, filing 19 amendments trying to weaken it.

Democrat Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando will call on the House to add a provision that would allow transgender students to sue the school if they feel they've been deprived of an athletic opportunity.

Spectrum News' Jonathan Alba contributed to this report.

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