To the Editor:
In response to your remarks “I can stand out here in the garage all day and convince myself that I’m an automobile, but it doesn’t make me an automobile at the end of the day,” we have decided to make our voices heard. This statement blatantly disregards and makes a mockery of the struggles of the transgender community.
Your remarks and the actions you have taken in the Florida Senate are threatening and damaging to the transgender community and their allies. The bill (SB-2012) you’re supporting is harmful to transgender kids’ mental state and their ability to socialize and connect to their peers through sports and other related events. Making athletes “out” themselves in order to play sports endangers them, potentially exposing them to violence and transphobic remarks from peers. Forcing athletes to share their testosterone levels, along with other physical tests of their gentians is a blatant invasion of privacy, and the suspension from sports for a year following a failure of these tests is unfair. There is no excuse for these deplorable actions, there has never been a case of a trans athlete ever taking a scholarship from a cis-athlete. This bill bars transgender athletes from making valuable social connections, and in turn, destabilizes their mental health. This action shows a group of kids looking for acceptance and safety that not even sports are an safe place for them, using the state’s power to reject any progress and further the hardships trans people already experience.
We strongly object to the transphobia we are seeing in the Florida Legislature, along with the inaccurate, gross, and harmful statements, you, state Sen. Baxley, have made. We strongly disapprove of your actions, along with the rest of the Florida Legislature supporting the bill.
The Central Florida Popular Front
