There’s good news for female athletes in North Carolina thanks to a Republican-led effort to protect women’s sports.

After testimony from competitors like Riley Gaines, the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act (House Bill 574) passed Wednesday in the Republican-controlled House, with three Democrats joining them. The Senate version (Senate Bill 631) passed Thursday but with no Democrat support.

The House and Senate will need to hash out their differences and pass a fresh version before sending it to Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper, who undoubtedly will veto it. But with Republicans now having a super-majority in both chambers, a veto override would be likely.

Naturally, the introduction of this legislation and the ensuing and sometimes heated debate over it has brought out The Usual Suspects in the woke North Carolina political media, many of who demagogued the hell out of this state during the HB2 “bathroom bill” drama back in 2016 and who are still at it today.

Among them is Raleigh News and Observer sports columnist Luke DeCock, who wrote during the bathroom bill days that the ACC, which was headquartered at the time in Greensboro, should start pulling sports games out of its own state.

“…it’s time for the ACC to follow the NBA’s example and stop rewarding North Carolina politicians for shamefully discriminating against the LGBT community out of fear of nonexistent transgender predators,” DeCock, who identifies as “he/him” and who is president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, demanded at the time.

Predictably, DeCock – who once blocked yours truly – is at it again, taking issue with the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act because in his mind the concept of men identifying as women and competing in their sports and winning against them and in some cases hurting them apparently is not that big of a deal:

This is going to end so, so well.

We've learned NOTHING.https://t.co/RkG4YlZG2C https://t.co/AArIWyja6L

— Luke DeCock (@LukeDeCock) April 19, 2023

In another tweet, DeCock compared the Fairness Act to HB2 because of course he did:

Hey it really is HB2 all over again, right down to the same straw men.

("So you're for men using women's bathrooms?") https://t.co/jXqNMO1HKh

— Luke DeCock (@LukeDeCock) April 19, 2023

Now if DeCock was truly interested in all sides of this debate and in learning more about why women feel the way they do about having to compete against men, he would have interviewed Gaines when she was here about having to compete against Lia Thomas. And he’d also take the time to interview North Carolina high school athlete Payton McNabb, who testified about her experience getting hit by a ball spiked by a transgender “woman,” which left her with a concussion and has caused debilitating health issues ever since:

Watch the clip of Payton McNabb getting spiked in the face by a male competing with the women. Then watch her testimony she gave today for the first time publicly. I was honored to stand alongside her in NC to continue the fight to protect women's sports. pic.twitter.com/mvJmwprkaX

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) April 20, 2023

But he won’t, because in the minds of the Luke DeCocks of the world, instead of researching an issue it’s better to virtue signal over it for clicks, likes, and prestigious leadership positions and to mansplain about how women have nothing to fear from male athletes who identify as women dominating their sports, this even as some Democrats in the U.S. Congress are acknowledging that there are innate differences between men’s bodies and women’s bodies.

Let’s not be too surprised that DeCock has repeatedly taken this position, though, considering his own paper and the N&O’s sister paper the Charlotte Observer took a similar one over men in women’s locker rooms back in 2016:

You've outdone yourself with this gem, Charlotte Observer. https://t.co/dNUJteCl2Z #ncpol #hb2 #WarOnWomen pic.twitter.com/0UXcpT1uZ1

— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) May 15, 2016

These people are trying to set women back decades and they just don’t get it. Bless their hearts.

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