America, the world super power, the only claimant of hegemony, the champion of democracy and the flag bearer of human rights, seems to be troubled every now and then with issues which should be in the past by now. Republicans hold a reputation of still holding on to American conservatism, which is quite evident in this recent bill signed on Tuesday by the Governor of Florida.
The bill bans transgender girls and women to be a part of girls sport teams in public schools. Furthermore, Governor Ron DeSantis said ‘In Florida, girls are going to play girl’s sports and boys are going to play boy’s sports’. What century are we living in, in order to having witness these kind of laws and regulations? Along with dragging the state into a cultural war against transgenders, the governor has ignited another debate over what tends to be a girls sports and what tends to be a boys sports.
The law makes it mandatory for girls to show their birth certificates which certifies their gender, and it also allows other students to sue the school if they allow any transgender to be a part of their sports team.
This decision is very likely to be challenged on constitutional grounds. It is not just going to have cultural or social implications, rather it will have a full blown impact on financial state of Florida.
NCAA which is the organisation that supervises the college athletics, has made it clear that if something of this kind is likely to happen, it will become important to relocate key games to states which are not having discriminatory policies against athletes. NCAA further said ‘it would commit championship games to locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination’
The football and basket ball tournaments which are considered to be high profile athletic events tend to generate a huge revenue for the local communities, and surely this source of money needs to be protected.
According to Sen. Kelly Stargel, who happens to be a republican, says that this law is in no way discriminatory for anyone, it just allows girls and women to be a part of all women’s sports, and that too with insurance of their security.
The law passed in the name of security of women and women oriented sports activities, does nothing but marginalise the already cornered groups of the society. This kind of laws and regulations do not simply fit in the time we are living in, that too especially in progressive countries like USA. The world expects more from the superpower, something beyond these gender discriminatory laws.
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