The Republican-controlled Florida state legislature approved a bill to ban any transgender athletes from competing in sports aligning with their gender.
The bill was proposed by GOP state Senator Kelli Stargel and GOP state Representative Kaylee Tuck.
According to the Miami New Times:
"Stargel temporarily postponed the Florida Senate bill on April 20, and the measure was considered dead."
"Instead, part of the bill was hastily tacked on as an amendment to a bill about charter schools."
"Ignoring impassioned pleas from trans-rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, the Republican-dominated legislature passed the bill on April 28, including the transgender-athlete amendment."
Stargel's bill was condemned by many on the left, but also found an unlikely critic in her own daughter.
Laura Stargel, who has appeared at campaign events with her mother in the past, authored an op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel speaking out against her mother's transphobic legislation.
Laura is pictured here with her mother:
In her op-ed, the younger Stargel wrote:
"In 2013, the Florida High School Athletics Association developed a process to review transgender students' requests to play on teams that match their gender identity."
"Since then, only 11 transgender students have petitioned the FHSAA to play."
"Nevertheless, the Legislature dedicated significant time to eviscerating that policy and replacing it with a blanket ban."
"That is time and resources that could have been used to focus on unemployment, health care or the housing crisis in a pandemic."
She also pointed out:
"The scope of this bill is massive, stretching to include kids in middle school and intramural sports, effectively erasing opportunities for transgender children from puberty onward."
"We should not be making these young people choose between a sport and their identity, especially in areas of sport for participation rather than competition."
Stargel repeated many of her points on Twitter in a lengthy thread.
Even Senator Stargel's own daughter recognizes the ridiculousness of the transphobic bill.
Many online praised the younger Stargel for standing up to her mother's bigotry.
Transphobia is never acceptable, especially when codified into law. Perhaps Senator Stargel could learn a thing or two from her daughter.
