Bigoted Republican scores own goal with bill to stop ‘trans men from competing in girls sport’
People running on an athletics track. (Pexels/Snapwire)
A Republican lawmaker in Florida, US, filed legislation Thursday (11 February) that would ban “trans men from competing in girls sport” and we’re not sure if he knows exactly what he means here.
In an effort to pose a fresh test to the trans-inclusive vision presented by Joe Biden, who on his first day in the Oval Office signed the “most substantive LGBT+ executive order in US history“, Anthony Sabatini’s submitted bill is vying to ban trans girls from girls high school sports.
This would put it on a collision course with Biden’s order, which contains a clause that reads: “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
The Lake County state representative filed a bill that would outlaw gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth alongside place hurdles in front of trans teens who want to take part in school sports.
Such bans, top advocacy groups have warned, are “discriminatory, harmful and unscientific” and tend to rely on anti-trans myths.
JUST FILED HB 935, a Bill that disallows transgender men from competing in girls sports in school. The Bill also makes it illegal to perform transgender surgery on children. Both women’s sports and our children must be protected from radical social experimentation. pic.twitter.com/tIX1OmY9Mq
— Rep. Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) February 11, 2021
Republican bill would ‘disallow trans men from competing in girls sport’. Er, wait
“JUST FILED HB 935,” Sabatini tweeted “a bill that disallows transgender men from competing in girls sports in school.”
But, er, that is kinda the point, Anthony. Trans boys don’t want to compete in girls sports.
While some users sarcastically revelled in Sabatini’s self-own here, the legislation he is seeking to push is packed with anti-trans rhetoric.
The bill, if passed, would allow “only students of the female sex” to play on sports teams “designated for girls only.”
It would also make it illegal for Florida doctors to prescribe medication or perform surgery that would “change” a child’s gender or “affirm” a child’s “perception” of their gender that is “inconsistent” with how they were assigned at birth.
“Both women’s sports and our children must be protected from radical social experimentation,” he explained.
This is, after all, the same Sabatini who was part of a group of Republican representatives that sought to file four anti-LGBT+ bills in the same day last year hours before a cut-off point.
The bills ranged from removing critical LGBT+ workplace protections to legalising traumatising conversion therapy.
