Federal judge sides with DeSantis on transgender athletes, upholds ban on biological males on female teams

FOX News’ Bryan Llenas reports on GOP candidates’ stances on former President Donald Trump as he held a rally during the third primary debate.

A federal judge in Miami sided with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the transgender athlete debate, upholding a ban on biological males competing with female sports teams. 

DeSantis, now running for president in 2024, signed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act back in 2021, championing the legislation for empowering women and girls in Florida to continue to "compete on a level playing field" and ensuring "opportunities like college scholarships will be protected for female athletes for years to come." 

Also known as SB 1028, DeSantis said the state law was based off "biology, not based off ideology." 

In a 39-page decision dated Monday, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, an appointee of former President Trump, determined that the law, which "separates public-school sports teams by biological sex," does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it is "sex-based classifications are substantially related to the state’s important interest in promoting women’s athletics."

WHITE HOUSE PUNTS ON 'YES OR NO ANSWER' TO TRANSGENDER ATHLETES PLAYING FEMALE SPORTS

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrives to participate in the Republican primary presidential debate hosted by NBC News in Miami on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A Broward County teen student, identified in court documents as D.N., had brought a lawsuit through the Washington, D.C.-based group Human Rights Campaign challenging the constitutionality of the law. Altman acknowledged on Monday that the plaintiff is "right to say that the statute