A number of states have passed, or are considering passing, legislation designed to prevent biological men from participating in women’s sports. After the dustup over swimmer Lia Thomas’ “victory” at the NCAA championships, the issue came back into the spotlight and the debate over the issue continues to rage. But now, it appears those who seek to keep women’s sports for women are poised to win some significant victories in the near future.
Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona are considering imposing bans on transgender females from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. Each has passed legislation to enshrine it into law.
Arizona’s legislature passed two bills dealing with this issue. They are awaiting Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s signature. One of the proposals would ban biological males from girls’ sports teams. The other would prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors.
Kentucky’s legislature recently passed the “Save Women’s Sports Act” which would also prohibit transgender females from competing in girls’ sports. It would also mandate that school sports leagues identify a students’ gender based on their sex at birth. The proposal awaits Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s signature. However, even if he vetoes the measure, Republicans have a supermajority in the legislature that could overturn it.
Oklahoma legislators passed a bill also titled the “Save Women’s Sports Act” on Thursday. The bill would bar biological males from participating in girls’ sports, including at the collegiate level. The legislation currently awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.
As you can already imagine, the folks who want biological males to compete with biological females in sporting events are none too pleased by these recent developments. Here are some of the responses on social media:
Today:
Arizona passed an abortion ban, a trans health ban on surgery, a sports ban.
Oklahoma passed a sports ban, a gender maker ban and classroom censorship bill.
Kentucky passed a sports ban.
All in one day. In a pandemic. In a war. This is what our gov't does.
— Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) March 24, 2022
Arizona’s children deserve every opportunity to thrive, but SB1165 will rob trans girls of the many benefits school sports can bring to a young person’s life. Urge Gov. Ducey to veto this discriminatory bill.
TAKE ACTION➡️https://t.co/graYuvw1G7 https://t.co/Naauc4rSsk
— ACLU of Arizona (@ACLUaz) March 24, 2022
JUST NOW: Arizona Republicans passed legislation barring trans girls from playing after-school sports, restricting gender-affirming surgery, and banning abortion at 15 weeks – all in one day. This is the GOP's extremist agenda.
— Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (@DLCC) March 24, 2022
"Women's sports are stronger when all women—including trans women—are protected from discrimination, and free to be their true selves."
We couldn't agree more. https://t.co/chPx4u4OVf
— ACLU of Oklahoma (@ACLUOK) March 22, 2022
Open season on humanity.
"Lawmakers in Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and South Dakota this week introduced at least nine bills that would curb trans and nonbinary youths’ access to things like school sports and restrooms, and gender-affirming care." https://t.co/Suz6rOkyYm— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) January 8, 2022
It appears American attitudes on the subject don’t exactly match up with the progressive left either. Gallup released the results of a poll last year showing the majority of Americans are not in favor of biological males competing in women’s sports.
From Gallup:
A majority of Americans (62%) say trans athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that correspond with their birth gender, while 34% say they should be able to play on teams that match their gender identity.
Among party, gender and age subgroups, only Democrats (55%) express majority support for transgender athletes’ ability to play on teams matching their gender identity.
But even some Republicans have thrown in with the left on this matter. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed legislation barring transgender females from playing on girl’s teams. In so doing, he wrote a letter arguing that this type of legislation targets children who already have high rates of suicide attempts. He explained that even though it might be easier “politically” to sign the legislation, he “tried to do what I feel is the right thing regardless of the consequences.”
Nevertheless, Republicans in the state legislature had enough votes to override Cox’s veto, so the measure passed. This makes Utah the 12th state to pass this type of legislation.
Each of the three states I mentioned earlier will likely pass these bans, which will be even more victories for female athletes and their parents, many of whom spoke out publicly against attempts to allow biological men to disrupt their sporting events. But the battle still isn’t over. The NCAA is still very much in lockstep with the woke crowd on this issue and they probably won’t abandon their position unless there is enough public pressure to do so.
Progressives have tried in vain to gaslight the American public into believing that a man identifying as a woman has no physical advantage over biological females. But it turns out that strategy was a dismal failure. As with most other issues, Democrats have shown they are on the losing side of this particular debate.
