‘Fairness’ in Women’s Sports Act was a clear attack on trans women
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1028 into law effective July 1, 2021, stating that “As a father of two daughters, I want my girls, and every girl in Florida, to compete on an even playing field for the opportunities available to young women in sports.” With that began a 21st-century Floridian Inquisition.
DeSantis made his stance on the rights of transgender women and his girls clear enough through the passage of the bill that denies transgender women and girls opportunities to participate in sports designated for “biological” women.
Nonetheless, the reason the bill is damaging is that it targets transgender women and singles them out. Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act is unfair to the transgender community since it perpetuates acts of transphobia based on flawed biological ideas about gender. I feel it coerces transgender people by singling them out as a community and requires covered schools to discriminate against them in women’s sports, and even intrude into their intimate details in their vital documents.
Bodies seem to mark particular statements about who we are as humans. Nonetheless, the claim that gender is binary undermines people’s diverse nature, leading to discrimination against certain groups like transgender women.
For example, Florida’s Inquisition requires that individuals prove their assigned gender via birth certificate for eligibility in women’s sports, unlike in men’s and mixed sports. It denies transgender women and girls key rights instead of promoting their health, dignity and respect.
Gender identity restrictions have been around for centuries, even before the term “transgender” existed to refer to an individual’s gender identity and expression. This lengthy history has contributed to negative social attitudes regarding people who fall into this category. Sexuality was also regulated, with non-gender-conforming people finding it difficult to gain employment or housing even when they left the localities of their birth.
Despite the significant social and statutory milestones in protecting the rights of transgender people, discrimination, exclusions and victimization did not stop.
A 2017 study focusing on sports activities found that even with existing and emerging restrictive laws, the primary issue barring transgender individuals from participation in sports is a lack of comfortable and inclusive environments.
The negative experiences transgender athletes faced were primarily based on restrictive sports policies, yet most competitive sports policies did not have adequate evidence to back the policies.
Crucially, many people remain ambivalent or unbothered by actions against the human rights of transgender individuals.
The grounds for passing Florida’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act of 2021 included terms such as fair opportunities and athletic competition. Yet the legislation almost completely prevents the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports in Florida at any level in public education.
It also specified that an individual’s gender would be determined by their biologically assigned gender at birth, either male or female, which is indicated on birth certificates. Under the bill, fair opportunities, skill, talent and ability protections in women’s sports are reserved for a section of individuals who can prove their biological gender identity as females. Accordingly, transgender athletes are required to provide their birth certificates, which account for an invasion of privacy.
According to E. Villain, a geneticist and adviser to the International Olympic Committee writing in the New York Times, there is no evidence supporting the proposition that a transgender woman should not be allowed to participate with cis women because they have an undue advantage. The majority of transgender women are using gender-affirming treatments to boost their confidence and align their biological makeup with their gender.
Therefore, there is no significant difference between cisgender and transgender women that warrants othering to promote fairness. Othering transgender women and girls have substantial implications for their health and well-being.
A study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health concludes banning women and girls from sports worsens existing disparities in mental health. Therefore, society needs to support the human rights of transgender people through donations to transgender community causes. Additionally, individuals should learn more about transgender history to refuse falling victim to myths, misinformation and political agendas limiting the human rights of transgender people.
Indeed, limiting the participation of transgender women and girls athletes in women’s sports and subjecting them to the scrutiny of their intimate and private history is a clear attack on their dignity, a violation of their fundamental human right to privacy, and to the fundamental and human rights to the enjoyment of life and the pursuit of happiness.