Texas legislators

are pushing a bill that would deny a transgender high school champion wrestler the chance to compete.

AUSTIN, Texas — When transgender wrestler Mack Beggs won a girls’ state championship, his victory drew complaints that his steroid therapy treatment had given him an unfair advantage against girls who risked injury just by getting on the mat with him.

Now Texas lawmakers are pushing a bill that could deny the Dallasarea junior a chance to defend his title next year.

The proposal working its way through the Legislature would require transgender students to turn over their medical information to the University Interscholastic League, the state’s governing body for public high school sports.

The UIL would be allowed to disqualify an athlete undergoing hormone therapy if “the safety of competing students or the fairness of a particular competition has been or will be substantially affected by the student’s steroid use.”

Beggs’ case drew national attention in February when he won the state championship in Class 6A, the classification for the state’s largest schools.

Before he got that far, the father of a girl who had wrestled against Beggs filed a lawsuit trying to get him disqualified.

His title-winning match earned him a bloody nose on the mat and boos from a crowd upset by his victory. He has a 56-0 record.

The UIL prohibits steroids use, but Texas has a “safe harbor” provision that allows transgender students undergoing hormone therapy treatments under the direction of a doctor to compete.

Texas also requires transgender athletes to compete in the gender listed on their birth certificate.

For Beggs, that meant he had to wrestle against girls against his wishes, and the proposed bill would not change that rule.

The bill, which passed the Senate, goes to the House.

The Legislature adjourns May 29.