The State Board of Education has upheld a rule requiring student athletes to compete based on the sex they were assigned at birth.
It is already illegal in Florida for transgender women and girls to participate in girls’ sports at academic institutions, and now the state Board of Education has approved Florida High School Athletic Association rules that further strengthen that ban.
Florida Education Secretary Manny Diaz praised the ban and criticized the Biden administration during a conference call on Wednesday.
“Rather than simply preventing discrimination based on biological sex, the Biden administration is trying to convince the public that biological sex no longer means anything. In Florida, thanks to the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, we are fighting back. No matter what the federal government says, we will continue to protect students’ privacy in restrooms and locker rooms, and we will never allow boys to participate in girls’ sports,” he said.
The Biden administration has criticized these policies and other laws that affect transgender and non-binary students in Florida, arguing that they violate Title IX’s anti-discrimination provisions. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration last month, seeking to block federal rules on these protections.
read more: Family sues Broward County schools over law banning transgender volleyball players from girls’ sports
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