Facing blowback, the director of Florida’s high school sports governing body is backing away from using an eligibility form that requires female athletes to disclose their menstrual history in order to compete. Instead, the executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association is recommending that most personal information revealed on medical history forms stay at the doctor’s office and not be stored at school.
The association’s board has an emergency meeting Thursday to vote on whether to adopt the four-page form — which would remove questions that force student-athletes to share details about their menstruation cycles in order to be participate in sports.
The Florida association’s spokesperson has said the proposed changes were not in response to concerns about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, as some social media users claim. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 signed a bill barring transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes identified as girls at birth, which put DeSantis and the state into the national cultural debate over transgender rights.
Questions on Florida’s draft evaluation form include:
- “Have you ever had a menstrual period?”
- “How old were you when you had your first menstrual period?”
- “When was your most recent menstrual period?”
- “How many periods have you had in the past 12 months?”
