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TALLAHASSEE, Florida, April 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Legislation banning males in women’s and girls’ sports is in danger of dying in the Florida Senate after overwhelming approval of a similar bill by House lawmakers.
Senate Bill 2012, titled the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, was scheduled to be heard in the senate on Tuesday before Republicans postponed the hearing late last week. The Florida House passed a companion bill, House Bill 1475, by a 37-vote margin earlier this month.
The bills require sports teams in Florida to be designated according to sex and explicitly bar males from competing against female students. Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel, the primary sponsor of the SB 2012, said the legislation was shelved in the Senate due to other priorities.
SB 2012 originally allowed some males “transitioning” to a feminized appearance to continue playing on women’s and girls’ teams, a provision not contained in HB 1475. Sen. Stargel amended SB 2012 last Monday, removing the provision, though she called for a hearing on the bill to be postponed when it came before the Senate Rules Committee, local news reported.
“Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex,” the amended legislation read. SB 2012 could be revived if Republican Kathleen Passidomo, chair of the rules committee, schedules a meeting to hear it before the legislative session ends Friday.
Florida has some of the most liberal athletic requirements in the nation, allowing students to compete on interscholastic teams “in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity and expression, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s birth certificate.”
Gender-confused, “transitioning” men substantially outperform women in physical contests, even after years of cross-sex hormones, threatening female athletes’ safety and opportunities. Recent polling shows that most Americans support bills to protect biological standards in sports.
Today, LifeSiteNews launched a campaign in support of women’s sports protections in the Sunshine State, calling on Florida voters to reach out to their senators about SB 2012.
“Individual states are our last line of defense against the left’s attack on female athletes and biology in general, and the time to fight back is NOW,” LifeSite noted.
The passage of the Save Women’s Sports Act would make Florida one of seven states to enact new restrictions on males in women’s and girls’ sports this year, despite intimidation by major corporations and the NCAA.
“I think that this is now a movement that you’re seeing in corporate America that, whether it’s the NCAA today or it might be someone tomorrow, that we’re going to use our corporate largess to bully the state,” Republican House Speaker Chris Sprowls said after the Florida House approved HB 1475. He added that House lawmakers “couldn’t care less” about corporate threats.