GOP bill would restrict transgender athletes
Measure would block girls sports competition; Dems decry lawmakers’ attempt
HARRISBURG — A group of female Republican lawmakers on Monday unveiled a bill they said is intended to protect girls and women who take part in school sports from competing against athletes who were male at birth.
The proposal, they said, came in response to President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 executive order that banned discrimination based on gender identity. The Pennsylvania proposal triggered immediate criticism from Democrats, and a spokeswoman for Gov. Tom Wolf said he would veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
Similar Republican-backed proposals have been made in other states in response to Biden’s order. Mississippi last month became the first state to enact a ban on transgender athletes on girls and women’s sports teams.
The five Pennsylvania Republicans — Reps. Barbara Gleim of Cumberland County, Valerie Gaydos of Allegheny County, Stephanie Borowicz of Clinton County, Dawn Keefer of York County and Martina White of Philadelphia — said Biden’s executive order would allow athletes who were born male but now identify as female to compete in girls and women’s sports.
They said athletes born male have intrinsic physical advantages over those born female. They said Biden’s executive order will undermine Title IX legislation, which in 1972 required girls and boys be given equal opportunities in sports.
“Science and common sense tell us that males are generally bigger, faster and stronger than females. They have larger hearts and lungs, denser bones and stronger muscles. These are all advantages that cannot be undone,” said White, a former college field hockey player.
“That’s why we have women’s sports as a separate category,” she added.
“Allowing biological males to compete in girls and women’s sports destroys fair competition and women’s athletic opportunities,” Gleim said.
Although the bill has not been filed formally, White said its would allow a student deprived of an athletic opportunity or harmed through a violation of the proposed law to seek an injunction and sue for costs and damages.
Democratic Rep. Mike Schlossberg of Allentown said that if the bill passes the Republican-dominated General Assembly, he hopes Wolf would throw it “on the trash heap.”
Schlossberg called it a blatant Republican attempt to stir up its base, as well as inflicting pain on children whose gender identity would cause them to be affected by the proposal.
Such children, he said, are more prone to suffer from addiction, homelessness and attempts at self-harm, and they are more likely to be victims of violence.
“It is a clear attempt to throw red meat to a rabid base that is clamoring for a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist,” Schlossberg said.
Another Democrat, Sen. Katie Muth of Chester County, also called the proposal a waste of time and energy “that doesn’t actually address any real problem.”
Corinne Goodwin, executive director of the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, said it appears the Republicans want to focus on a “wedge” issue.
“This is part of a nationally coordinated campaign by anti-LGBTQ organizations that seeks to harm vulnerable youth,” Goodwin said.
Wolf spokesperson Lyndsay Kensinger said, “The governor has been clear: Hate has no place in Pennsylvania, and that includes discrimination.”
“Any legislation designed to deny opportunities to certain children is both disturbing and dangerous,” she said. “Trans youth should know that they belong, that they are valued, and that their participation in school activities is welcomed. The governor would veto this type of legislation.”
Sports leaders react
Bob Hartman, Whitehall-Coplay School District’s athletic director and PIAA District 11 chair, said, “The PIAA has a policy that boys cannot play in girls sports. And from a transgender perspective, the school is currently making the decision on the gender of that student as per the school’s discussions with their families.”
Hartman said he had not read the lawmakers’ proposal.
Concerning how a transgender situation would be handled at Whitehall, Hartman said, “We haven’t had it athletically, so I can’t even speak to it. But I’m sure it’s something now that’ll be in discussion, in case it does come up.”
Hartman also said he has received no complaints or concerns about playing against teams with transgender athletes.
Liberty High School girls soccer coach Andrew Uhler called the proposal “ridiculous,” and said it makes sense that Wolf would veto it, if it reaches his desk.
“If I was the coach, I would not have a problem with that because, for me, if that person has taken the steps and identifies as a female, then that person is a female,” he said. “I don’t have any say over that. That’s their body and their choice. Obviously there would probably end up being a discussion since it hasn’t happened.”