Ohio lawmakers scrap genital exams for transgender athletes
COLUMBUS — Lawmakers amended a bill Tuesday afternoon that would prohibit transgender high school girls from playing women’s sports by removing a provision that could have required genital examinations when an athlete’s sex is in question.
Instead, House Bill 151 now would require the athlete whose gender is challenged to present a birth certificate, under the amendment adopted Tuesday by the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee.
The amendment also no longer includes collegiate sports. Also eliminated was a portion of the original legislation that allowed girls to sue in civil court if transgender girls were playing on a team, under a claim that they had been deprived of an athletic opportunity or caused to suffer other harm.
Ohio made national headlines for the genital inspection requirement. Critics of the bill said any parent jealous of a student’s playing time or prowess could dispute their gender and subject them to a humiliating exam.
Before Tuesday’s amendment, HB 151 required a physician to sign a statement establishing the athlete’s gender through internal and external reproductive anatomy, normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone or an analysis of the participant’s genetic makeup. The nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission, which helps lawmakers write and analyze bills, could not determine whether the statement must be based on one or all three methods of examination, it said in the bill’s analysis.
HB 151 was originally a relatively uncontroversial bill concerning teacher mentoring. However, shortly before midnight May 31 — as lawmakers were wrapping up work before leaving Columbus for the summer — the chamber passed the bill with a floor amendment inserted in the so-called “Save Women’s Sports Act,” or HB 61, which prohibited trans girls and women from playing girls and women’s high school and college sports, sponsored by GOP Reps. Jena Powell, of Darke County, and Reggie Stoltzfus, of Stark County.
The Senate committee that accepted the amendments Tuesday has not yet voted on whether to send the bill forward for a vote in the full chamber. If the Senate adopts the amended bill, it would return to the House for a concurrence vote.
Supporters of the bill say that a transgender girl or woman could have more muscle strength, could run faster and possess other physical advantages that boys and men generally have.