Today, as Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Florida Senate Bill 1028 — an education bill that was amended to ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports at the secondary and post-secondary level consistent with their gender identity — the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is announcing its intent to challenge the new law in court.

 

This upcoming lawsuit in Florida to be filed by the Human Rights Campaign comes amid a rash of anti-transgender sports ban legislation being taken up and passed in states across the country. Today's bill signing by Governor DeSantis took place on the first day of LGBTQ Pride Month and within 12 days of the anniversary of the Pulse shooting in Orlando, Florida. Lawmakers across the country who support these bills have failed to provide examples of any issue in their states to attempt to justify these attacks on transgender youth, laying bare the reality that they are fueled by discriminatory intent and not supported by fact. The Human Rights Campaign’s action follows an earlier lawsuit against an anti-LGBTQ regulation by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that would have illegally strip away critical anti-discrimination protections in the Affordable Care Act. HRC won a preliminary injunction in that case in August of 2020