TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A day before it takes effect , a new Florida law banning transgender females from competing on women’s and girls\u2019 sports teams \u2026<\/b>
\nTALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A day before it takes effect, a new Florida law banning transgender females from competing on women’s and girls\u2019 sports teams was challenged Wednesday as unconstitutional in federal court. The lawsuit was filed by a 13-year-old transgender girl soccer player from Broward County identified as \u201cD.N.,\u201d and her parents. Attorneys for the Human Rights campaign, a civil rights organization, are among those representing the girl, who they said is named Daisy, plays goalie and is starting 8th grade in the fall. The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida on the last day of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) \u201cPride Month.\u201d Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure on the first day of Pride Month, which many in the community saw as intentionally confrontational. The governor said the new law would preserve the integrity of female sports in Florida schools. The lawsuit, filed in Miami, argues the new measure is \u201cironically titled the \u2018Fairness in Women\u2019s Sports Act,\u2019 (and) has nothing to do with fairness or equality for girls of women in sport.\u201d Instead, D.N.\u2019s attorneys say that it violates both federal Title IX protections for women\u2019s sports and the U.S. Constitution\u2019s equal protection provisions. The transgender athlete ban now joins a host of new laws which DeSantis pushed through Florida\u2019s Republican-controlled Legislature that are being challenged in federal courts. DeSantis is being sued by civil rights organizations and voters groups over enhanced criminal penalties and new offenses stemming from violence at demonstrations, a move prompted by the Black Lives Matter protests last year. Voters\u2019 rights groups are suing over new election standards decried as harmful to minorities, and internet technology associations are looking to overturn social media regulations enacted by DeSantis which followed former President Donald Trump being blocked for violating terms of use on Facebook and Twitter. Like much of the legislative agenda embraced by DeSantis, the transgender bill echoes the views of many analysts on conservative media. \u201cIn Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play boys sports. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d DeSantis said, during the June 1 signing ceremony, held at Jacksonville\u2019s Trinity Christian Academy, where he was flanked by school athletes. The new law would require public schools and universities to have athletes compete according to their sex assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. Florida\u2019s ban is similar to those passed by Republican-led legislatures in several other states. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, last week vetoed a ban approved by lawmakers in his state. The U.S. Justice Department under President Joe Biden recently said West Virginia\u2019s transgender athlete ban violates the 14th Amendment\u2019s equal protection clause and Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program drawing federal funds. U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a Democrat from St. Petersburg who is running against DeSantis for governor next year, was among those critical of the measure, calling it \u201ccruel legislation\u2026creating an issue where one doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d When approved along party lines by the state Legislature in April, lawmakers struggled to find any examples of transgender girls or women competing in Florida sports. But supporters insisted that if it did happen, the transgender athletes would have an unfair advantage. The new law would require public schools and universities to have athletes compete according to their sex assigned at birth, rather than gender identity. The Human Rights Campaign said the new law will force Daisy to play on the boys soccer team at her school \u2013 which she has no plans of doing \u2013 or quit sports. \u201cPlaying sports makes me feel like I fit in; the thought of not being able to play next year scares me,\u201d she said in a statement provided by the HRC. Her parents, Jessica and Gary, also said that their daughter has been playing sports for the past seven years and her gender has not been an issue. \u201cShe is just a girl that wants to play sports with her friends and be part of a team. As her parents, we just want her to be happy,\u201d they said. John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network\u2019s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport.<\/p>\n