Megan Rapinoe is one of 40 professional athletes who slammed a bill banning trans women from sport (Wikimedia Commons)
Lesbian soccer legend Megan Rapinoe is one of dozens of US sports stars urging lawmakers to oppose a sweeping ban on trans athletes in Florida.
On Monday (April 10), 40 professional, Olympic and Paralympic athletes signed an open letter opposing House Bill (HB) 734.
The bill, also known as the Women and Girls In Sports Protection Act, was introduced earlier this year by Florida Republican Greg Steube.
The legislation seeks to prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in sports that fall under government-funded educational programs or activities by making it a Title IX violation.
Title IX is a civil rights law that makes sex discrimination illegal in schools.
The 50-year-old law is currently the focus of proposals from the Biden administration that aim to ban sweeping bans on trans athletes but still allow schools to ban them on “educational” grounds.
HB 734 is one of more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ laws introduced in the United States in just the first few months of 2023.
“We believe that every child deserves to have their life changed for the better by being able to participate in the sport they love,” the athletes’ letter read.
They state that participating in sport goes beyond what you do on the field and has a positive impact on physical and mental health, social life and development.
“Sport has given us our greatest friends, taught us incredible life lessons, and given us the confidence and drive to thrive in the world,” the letter continued.
The bill will “deter” cis and trans girls alike from sport.
HB 734 will force trans and intersex women and girls to “sit apart from their peers and their communities,” they add.
βThe surveillance of who can and cannot participate in school sports will very likely result in the surveillance of the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls. That will discourage girls from sport and create additional barriers.β
Rather than trying to ban trans people who just want to compete, the group is urging Washington politicians to focus on issues that actually impact women in sport, such as equal pay, abuse and lack of access for girls of color and people with disabilities .
“Our deepest hope,” the group concluded, “is that transgender and intersex children will never experience the isolation, marginalization and otherness that HR 734 seeks to enshrine in law.”
In addition to Rapinoe, who won gold with the US national team at the 2012 Olympics, Paralympic wheelchair basketball gold medalist Abby Dunkin, American football star Johnny Stanton and Olympic rower Kendall Chase also signed the letter.
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