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Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 1028 enacting the Fairness in Women's Sports Act banning transgender athletes

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/SB 1028 on June 1, 2021, an education omnibus bill whose Section 12 created the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," requiring public school and university athletic teams to be designated by "biological sex at birth" and barring students of the male sex from female-designated teams. The bill passed the Florida Senate 29-11 and House 79-37 largely along party lines.

Jurisdiction
Florida
Location
Tallahassee, Florida

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 1, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/SB 1028, an education omnibus bill enacted as Chapter 2021-35. Section 12 of the act created Florida Statute 1006.205, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," requiring interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, and club athletic teams sponsored by public secondary schools and public postsecondary institutions to be designated male, female, or coed based on "biological sex at birth," and barring students of the male sex from competing on female-designated teams. The Florida Senate passed the bill 29-11 and the House 79-37, largely along party lines, before DeSantis signed it into law.

The measure made Florida among the first states to enact a statewide transgender-athlete sports ban, part of a wave of similar "Fairness in Women's Sports" laws enacted in other states in subsequent years, several of which are separately recorded in this archive.

Updates

2023-11-07 — Federal judge dismissed constitutional challenge to SB 1028 [3, 4, 5]

A transgender student from Broward County sued in federal court in 2021 over SB 1028 and its codification as Fla. Stat. 1006.205; the case was stayed in February 2022 and reopened in January 2023 following a separate transgender-bathroom ruling. On November 7, 2023, a federal judge dismissed the suit, rejecting the constitutional challenge and leaving the law in place.

Why we recorded this

Equal treatment under law bars government from categorically excluding people from public institutions based on their identity absent individualized justification. Florida's SB 1028 barred transgender students from public school and university sports teams matching their gender identity, using a fixed birth-sex classification with no process for individualized review. This archive records when state governments enact blanket exclusions targeting transgender people from public educational programs.

Sources

  1. CS/CS/SB 1028: Education - Bill History and Text — Florida Senate primary accessed July 18, 2026
  2. CS/CS/SB 1028, 2nd Engrossed (Enrolled, Chapter 2021-35) — Florida Senate primary accessed July 18, 2026
  3. Federal judge dismisses Broward County transgender teen athlete's challenge — CBS News Miami secondary accessed July 18, 2026
  4. Judge tosses transgender teen's lawsuit against Florida's women's sports law — The Washington Times secondary accessed July 18, 2026
  5. A judge has rejected a challenge to Florida's trans athlete law — WFSU secondary accessed July 18, 2026

See also