Florida congressmen target transgender girl competing in Irish dance championship

Instead of focusing on how to make life more affordable for their constituents, two Florida Republican members of Congress are pressuring Irish dance officials to bar a transgender girl from competing in girls’ categories at one of the sport’s largest North American competitions, carrying the right’s anti-trans sports campaign into the world of competitive dance.U.S. Reps. Randy Fine and Greg Steube sent a June 24 letter to An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, the Dublin-based governing body for Irish dance, and the Irish Dance Teachers’ Association of North America ahead of the North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando, according to a post on Fine’s Facebook page.The competition is scheduled for July 2-7 at the Rosen Centre Hotel, according to the Irish Dance Teachers’ Association of North America and the championship’s official website.“Biological males do not belong in girls’ dance,” Fine wrote in a post sharing the letter. “Florida law is clear: girls’ categories are for biological females.”In the letter, Fine and Steube demanded that the Irish dance organizations “stop allowing boys to compete in and win girls’ categories in Orlando.” They cited Florida’s 2021 Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which bars transgender girls and women from participating on girls’ and women’s school athletic teams consistent with their gender identity. The law applies to public secondary schools and public postsecondary institutions.The lawmakers contend that an Irish dance competition held in a hotel or convention space must also reserve girls’ and women’s divisions for competitors assigned female at birth. The letter specifically objects to a transgender girl who, the lawmakers wrote, has competed in girls’ divisions at regional Irish dance competitions and qualified for national and world competitions.Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has also threatened legal action against the dance organizations. In a June 26 letter pos