Federal Judge Hands DeSantis Huge Victory in Battle Over Transgenders in Sports
A federal judge has given Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a win in his effort to save women’s sports in his state from the incursion of transgender ideology.
DeSantis signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2021 to ensure that girls and women in school sports programs would not have to compete against male athletes.
The law, Senate Bill 1028, was taken to court by a male Broward County student who was prevented from playing on a girls’ high school soccer team, Fox News reported.
His lawsuit claimed that SB 1028 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
On Monday, Judge Roy Altman — who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by President Donald Trump — ruled that “not all gender-based classifications violate the Equal Protection Clause.”
He said Florida’s separation of males and females in school sports is “substantially related to the state’s important interest in promoting women’s athletics.”
The plaintiff, identified in Altman’s ruling as D.N., also argued that SB 1028 violates federal Title IX rules and could violate his right to privacy by forcing him to divulge “sensitive medical information.”
“This potential injury — if we can call it that — is so speculative (and lies so far down a hypothetical chain of imaginary future events) that it cannot support D.N.’s … standing here,” the judge wrote.
As for the Title IX claim, Altman had waited for a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit regarding a St. John’s County transgender bathroom law. That court eventually ruled that the word “sex” in Title IX does not cover “gender identity.”
With that decision in hand, Altman ruled against the student and in favor of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
The plaintiff has until Nov. 21 to take another stab at his legal challenge. His amended complaint must demonstrate how “Title IX prohibits the state from treating [him], as a biological male, differently than biological females,” Altman wrote.
Laws to protect women’s sports are being passed across the country.
In 2022, the GOP-dominated Kentucky Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill barring males from competing in women’s sports. Republican Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of a similar bill was overturned last year as well.
In 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill limiting women’s and girls’ sports to women and girls.
The same year, South Dakota passed a bill of its own making sex, not “gender identity,” the determining factor in school sports participation.
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