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Florida House To Take Up Transgender Athlete Ban

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - The Florida House on Tuesday is slated to take up a controversial bill that would ban transgender females from taking part in girls' or women's high-school and college sports.

The bill (HB 1475), sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, is one of dozens of measures scheduled for consideration during a Tuesday floor session.

Dubbed the "Fairness In Women's Sports Act," the proposal would make participation in athletics contingent on determining a student's "biological sex," a disputed term that refers to the sex assigned at birth.

Tuck has said "inherent, biological differences between men and women" give males an edge in sporting events. But opponents have argued there is no need for the bill and that it could endanger teenagers and young adults who are already vulnerable to bullying and abuse.

Among other bills slated for the floor session is a proposal (HB 1027), sponsored by Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, that would allow high schools to offer prayers over public-address systems before athletic championship games.

The measure comes amid a long-running legal battle over a decision by the Florida High School Athletic Association in 2016 to block Cambridge Christian School of Tampa from offering a prayer over the public-address system before a football championship game at Orlando's Camping World Stadium.

(©2021 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The News Service of Florida's contributed to this report.)

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