{"id":323809,"date":"2026-06-29T21:20:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/323809\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:20:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:20:24","slug":"florida-republicans-target-transgender-irish-dancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/323809\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Republicans target transgender Irish dancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instead of focusing on how to make life more affordable for their constituents, two Florida<\/a> Republican<\/a> members of Congress are pressuring Irish dance officials to bar a transgender<\/a> girl from competing in girls\u2019 categories at one of the sport\u2019s<\/a> largest North American competitions, carrying the right\u2019s anti-trans sports campaign into the world of competitive dance.<\/p>\n

U.S. Reps. Randy Fine and Greg Steube sent a June 24 letter to An Coimisi\u00fan Le Rinc\u00ed Gaelacha, the Dublin-based governing body for Irish dance, and the Irish Dance Teachers\u2019 Association of North America ahead of the North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando, according to a post<\/a> on Fine\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

The competition is scheduled for July 2-7 at the Rosen Centre Hotel, according to the Irish Dance Teachers\u2019 Association of North America and the championship\u2019s official website.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiological males do not belong in girls\u2019 dance,\u201d Fine wrote in a post sharing the letter. \u201cFlorida law is clear: girls\u2019 categories are for biological females.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter, Fine and Steube demanded that the Irish dance organizations \u201cstop allowing boys to compete in and win girls\u2019 categories in Orlando.\u201d They cited Florida\u2019s 2021 Fairness in Women\u2019s Sports Act<\/a>, which bars transgender girls and women from participating on girls\u2019 and women\u2019s school athletic teams consistent with their gender identity. The law<\/a> applies to public secondary schools and public postsecondary institutions.<\/p>\n

The lawmakers contend that an Irish dance competition held in a hotel or convention space must also reserve girls\u2019 and women\u2019s divisions for competitors assigned female at birth. The letter specifically objects to a transgender girl who, the lawmakers wrote, has competed in girls\u2019 divisions at regional Irish dance competitions and qualified for national and world competitions.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has also threatened legal action against the dance organizations. In a June 26 letter posted publicly on Monday, Uthmeier told CLRG and IDTANA that their policy allowing competitors to enter divisions based on gender identity may violate Florida law.<\/p>\n

Related: Right-Wing Media Attacks Trans Girl For Winning Irish Dance Competition<\/a><\/p>\n

Uthmeier also posted the letter on X, writing, \u201cThe upcoming North American Irish Dance Championships in Orlando currently allow men who identify as women to compete in and earn recognition as women.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida law protects fair competition for actual women and girls,\u201d he wrote. \u201cSex-based categories are rooted in biological reality, not ideology. My office will take appropriate legal action against any failure to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter, Uthmeier argued that Florida law protects women from sex discrimination in places of public accommodation and claimed the championships fall under that definition because they are being held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando. He also cited the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, arguing that advertising women\u2019s competitions while allowing transgender competitors to participate could amount to a deceptive practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office will not tolerate these sorts of policies and will take all necessary steps to safeguard the rights and interests of Florida\u2019s female competitors against CLRG and IDTANA\u2019s unjust policy,\u201d Uthmeier wrote.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier requested that both organizations confirm by Tuesday that they will not allow transgender women and girls to compete in women\u2019s categories at the upcoming championships or future competitions in Florida.<\/p>\n

The Advocate has reached out to the Irish Dance Teachers\u2019 Association of North America for comment.<\/p>\n

The dispute follows a pressure campaign from Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian organization that has urged Irish dance officials to change their transgender participation policies. The group also circulated what it described as an IDTANA inclusivity statement, dated July 2022, that says the organization is \u201ccommitted to preserving and promoting Irish Dance in an environment that is inclusive and free of discrimination and harassment.\u201d The statement says the organization supports a culture where dancers, families, teachers, and volunteers feel safe and respected \u201cregardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, income, race or sexual orientation, opportunities to learn and grow as dancers and people.\u201d It also says IDTANA is \u201csupportive of including all those who want to learn and or compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

The championship\u2019s official website<\/a> continued to list the Orlando competition as proceeding this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Instead of focusing on how to make life more affordable for their constituents, two Florida Republican members of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,14623,29,65499,134003,134004],"class_list":["post-323809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-legislation","tag-florida-news","tag-irish-dance","tag-irish-dance-teachers-association-of-north-america","tag-transgender-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}