'We're going to protect our girls": Governor to sign transgender sports bill

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he plans to sign a controversial transgender sports bill that's on his desk.  

The governor confirmed his intentions during a town hall in Orlando hosted by FOX News' Laura Ingraham.

Reporter: "Are you going to sign it?"

DeSantis: "Oh yeah, we're going to protect our girls. I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter and they're both very athletic. And we want to have opportunities for our girls. They deserve an even playing field."

RELATED: Florida lawmakers revive, pass transgender athlete ban

The bill would ban transgender females from playing on high-school girls’ and college women’s sports teams. Supporters say it's about protecting the integrity of sports, but opponents argue that it's discrimination.

The House tucked the transgender athlete proposal into an education measure and sent the revamped bill to the Senate. The Senate signed off on the proposal in a 23-16 vote late Wednesday, with one Republican --- Gayle Harrell of Stuart --- crossing party lines to join Democrats in opposition to the bill.

Under the measure on its way to Gov. Ron DeSantis, female students’ eligibility for sports teams would be based on their "biological sex" on birth certificates issued "at or near the time of the student’s birth."