Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo spent time praising a transgender athlete sports ban at a press conference meant to focus on the fentanyl crisis.
During remarks in Sanford, the controversial Surgeon General's first remarks had to do with athletics.
"Who would have thought it would be controversial to allow girls to compete with other girls and not have to compete with boys?" Ladapo said. "I don't think any of our parents would have ever thought that would've been controversial."
He praised Gov. Ron DeSantis for efforts to stop transgender girls from competing in girls sports, a reference to legislation the Governor signed in 2021.
The comments, of course, came ahead of the Summer Olympics, where trans athletes face greater restrictions on participation than during prior games. That likely will become the subject of international conversation in coming months.
But Ladapo's comments had little to do with an announcement of the expansion of counties participating in an integrated network for overdose response, the main thrust of the news conference.
Ladapo made the comments boosting DeSantis in a room of supporters.
"We have so many things happening at leadership levels at the federal level, you know, whether it's boys playing on girls teams — and winning titles — or other just things that don't make sense," Ladapo said, "that having an individual — in this case of man who does make sense — just stands in in sharp contrast and is very refreshing for a lot of Floridians and a lot of Americans."
Even as he discussed the fentanyl response network specifically, Ladapo continued to tie transgender sports to the unrelated matter.
"That's why CORE has been successful," he said, referencing the opioid response network. "It's just really just common sense thinking about the problem, thinking about the solutions. And the solution is not to have boys playing on girls sports."
DeSantis appointed Ladapo in September 2021, months after he signed the transgender sports ban. He's since developed a following of his own, mostly for speaking against the use of COVID-19 vaccines.
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