Wolf promises veto of transgender athlete bill

The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill to prevent athletes who were male at birth from participating in women’s and girls’ school sports, sending it toward a promised veto by Gov. Tom Wolf.

The vote in the Republican-dominated Senate was 30-20 on the bill previously passed by the House. Debate was impassioned and at times contentious.

Republican Sen. Doug Mastriano of Franklin County, his party’s candidate for governor, said those born male have bigger hands, feet, lungs and hearts than women, and when they transition to female and compete against those born female, the competition is not fair.

“I am here to defend female rights, female athletes,” Mastriano said.

Democratic Sen. Katie Muth of Montgomery County called it a “hateful” and “waste-of-time” bill that did nothing to defend women’s rights.

Another Democrat, Sen. Amanda Cappelletti of Montgomery County, said she was disgusted by the bill and that transgender Pennsylvanians are — like everyone else — simply trying to live their “most authentic and best selves.”

Wolf has said he will veto the bill.

The bill’s prime sponsor, Republican Rep. Barb Gleim of Cumberland County, has said that decisions on transgender issues in higher levels of sports — including the Olympics — could trickle down into high school sports.

Gleim said of Pennsylvania, “If my bill isn’t passed, the only winner is males.”

Last summer, the House Education Committee held a hearing on the bill where one high school girl said her track teammates felt abandoned and hurt by the silence of coaches and school officials when a transgender athlete joined the team. A different athlete from a different high school said “transgender girls are girls just like me.”