The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
Foundation, the educational arm of HRC, on Wednesday announced that
it had filed a lawsuit challenging Florida's transgender sports ban.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a
Republican, signed Senate Bill 1028, which prohibits transgender
athletes from competing on girls' and women's sports teams, last
month.
Under the new law, transgender student
athletes can only participate in team sports if they provide proof of
their biological sex. It also allows students to sue a school if they
allow a transgender girl or woman on a sports team.
In signing the bill, DeSantis,
surrounded by a group of female athletes, said: “In Florida, girls
are going to play girl sports and boys are going to play boy sports.”
DeSantis told a reporter that the law
protects “fairness in women's sports.”
Plaintiffs in the case are 13-year-old
Daisy (most likely not her real name) and her parents Jessica and
Gary. Daisy, who began receiving gender-affirming medical care in
middle school, is a goalie on three different soccer teams.
“Playing sports makes me feel like I
fit in, the thought of not being able to play next year scares me,”
Daisy said in a statement. “I'm going to be lonely and sad if I
can't play.”
The lawsuit argues that the law
violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal
Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the 14th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
HRC, the nation's largest LGBT rights
advocate, also said that it plans to challenge similar laws in
Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.