Athlete Ally Responds to FL Anti-Trans Athlete Bill
June 1, 2021 (New York, NY) — Athlete Ally responded to news that today, on the first day of LGBTQ+ Pride month, Florida became the latest state to pass legislation banning transgender youth from participating in sports. Florida is the 7th state to pass legislation, and the 8th state to ban transgender athletes from participating in school sports (South Dakota’s Governor Noem signed two executive orders similarly banning transgender student-athletes).
Despite vocal opposition to the ban across the state, including from key sport organizations like The Miami Heat – Governor Ron DeSanitis signed Senate Bill 1028 into law this morning which forces girls and women to play school sports according to the sex listed on their birth certificate no matter their gender identity.
“Pride month should be a time to celebrate diversity and inclusion in sports and in our society as a whole, not a time to sideline even more transgender youth from the sport they love,” said Athlete Ally Communications Director, Joanna Hoffman. “By signing this bill into law, Florida joins a record number of states banning transgender youth from learning invaluable lessons about teamwork and enjoying the sport they love with their peers. Florida lawmakers have created a solution in search of a problem; there is absolutely no empirical evidence that transgender women and girls are a threat to women’s sports. We want transgender youth in Florida and and across the country to know that they are loved and that they belong in sport. We will keep up the fight against these discriminatory and dangerous bills that threaten the very integrity of sport and our country.”