DeSantis' Transgender Sports Law Just Came Under Legal Attack from Leftist Group
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge a new Florida law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans men who identify as women from competing in girls’ sports at the scholastic level.
“Given the unprecedented onslaught of state legislative attacks, we have a responsibility to utilize every tool in our belt to safeguard the LGBTQ community, including suing the states that infringe upon our civil rights,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement.
BREAKING: We are suing in Florida and taking action in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee to block anti-trans laws enacted this year.
These hateful, discriminatory laws have no place in America and we will not rest until they are struck down. https://t.co/PhEGulewiK pic.twitter.com/V1QQxCz8B5
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) June 30, 2021
“On the first day of Pride Month, a moment of celebration, Governor DeSantis signed a bill into law attacking transgender children—now, on the last day of Pride, we are sending a message to him, and all anti-equality officials, that you cannot target our community without retribution,” David added.
The lawsuit is the first among several planned by the HRC Foundation, an organization that calls itself “the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization.”
The statement also “announced that, in addition to its Florida lawsuit, it will bring a series of legal challenges across the country of anti-equality laws in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.”
The HRC said it is filing the Florida lawsuit “on behalf of 13-year-old Daisy* and her parents Jessica and Gary N. Daisy is starting 8th grade in the fall and has participated in team sports since she was 8 years old.”
“It is a very helpless feeling to know that people think our daughter does not deserve the rights to play sports with her friends—she has been playing with them for the last seven years and it has not been an issue,” the student’s parents said.
They added, “Taking this right away will only further isolate her from her peers and take away her ‘safe space.’ She is just a girl that wants to play sports with her friends and be part of a team. As her parents, we just want her to be happy.”
In a tweet announcing the lawsuit, the HRC said, “Daisy belongs on her girls’ sports teams. Her teammates, her family, and her friends accept and celebrate her.
“Federal law also protects her right to play.”
Daisy belongs on her girls’ sports teams. Her teammates, her family, and her friends accept and celebrate her.
Federal law also protects her right to play.
Read more about our case, and help us in the fight: https://t.co/N4YtesvuVb #LetKidsPlay
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) June 30, 2021
DeSantis spoke out on the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” in May, saying, “I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter, and they’re very athletic. And we want to have opportunities for our girls. They deserve an even playing field.
“And that’s what we’re doing, with what Mississippi did, with what Florida did, and I know what other states are going to do. So, I look forward to being able to sign that into law.”
The approved version of the bill noted, “Biological and scientific differences between males and females made it unfair for athletes born as boys to compete on teams for girls and women,” according to The Associated Press.
The bill, which will keep transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports, is expected to go into effect beginning July 1.
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