The Florida House passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban transgender girls from participating in school sports and requiring girls whose sex is “disputed” to undergo inspections of their genitalia.
H.B. 1457 passed with a 77-40 vote largely along party lines; only one Democrat voted for it and no Republicans opposed it. Rep.
Michele Rayner, a St. Petersburg Democrat and the only gay woman in the Florida House, wept as she argued against the bill’s passage. “As a lawyer, I have been trained not to have emotion when I debate.
But we are talking about children … we are talking for children who can’t speak for themselves,” she said. “I have struggled with this bill.