Florida has banned transgender girls from taking part in female sports at public schools and colleges, BBC News reports.

Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, signed the bill - known as The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act - into law on Tuesday, June 1, making the Sunshine State the eighth one to bring in such a measure.

The new legislation states that only women and girls who were assigned female at birth can play in female sports teams.

Trans students will not be able to compete in sports without a birth certificate that specifies their sex. The law also allows students to take legal action against a school if the institution allows a trans athlete to compete alongside cisgender female teammates.

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DeSantis said as he signed the law at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville city, per BBC News: "We believe that is very important that the integrity of these competitions are preserved. We're going to go based on biology, not based on ideology when we're doing sports."

Florida joins Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Dakota in excluding transgender girls from playing with their cisgender female teammates.

The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, also signed an executive order on the matter.

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After signing the bill into law, DeSantis tweeted: "The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act will empower Florida women & girls to be able to compete on a level playing field.

"This will help ensure that opportunities for things like college scholarships will be protected for female athletes for years to come."

The new law has widely been criticized by transgender advocates and allies, with Democratic Senator Shevrin Jones saying in a statement: "This is yet another hate-driven attack from the governor and Republican legislators, and it's insulting that they've staged this morning's photo-op on the first day of Pride Month. At the end of the day, transgender kids are just kids."

Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David added: "All Floridians will have to face the consequences of this anti-transgender legislation - including economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation."

Featured image credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy

Florida becomes largest US state to ban transgender girls playing in female school sports teams