GOP poised to pass trans sports ban
Bill’s opponents write letters, plan rally ahead of veto override vote
Northwest Indiana transgender and women’s rights advocates have been reaching out to legislators and plan to rally at the statehouse Tuesday as the Indiana legislature meets to vote on a veto override of a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing in a girls sport or on a girls team.
The bill passed by wide margins in the GOP-dominated legislature months ago, but GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed the bill, stating in his veto letter that the legislation “falls short” of providing a consistent statewide policy for what he called “fairness in K-12 sports.”
Republican sponsors of the bill said it is needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarships but pointed out no instances in the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes.
In his March veto letter, Holcomb pointed to the Indiana High School Athletic Association, which has a policy covering transgender students wanting to play sports that match their gender identity and has said it’s had no transgender girls finalize a request to play on a girls team.
In response to Holcomb’s veto, House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, announced the legislature will meet Tuesday for a technical corrections day to vote to override the veto, which requires a simple majority in the House and the Senate.
Huston previously said GOP lawmakers will vote to override Holcomb’s veto and put the ban into law.
“This issue continues to be in the national spotlight and for good reason as women have worked hard for equal opportunities on the
playing field — and that’s exactly what they deserve,” Huston said.
Simon Anderson Schelling, chair of the LGTBQ Outreach of Porter County, said the news alone of the legislature passing the bill has had a detrimental impact on transgender girls and transgender youth.
“I can already tell you just having the legislation there has had an impact on the youth that I work with. The fact that they are already feeling a sense of not belonging in a city and a state that they call home its heartbreaking to them,” Schelling said.
The bill’s opponents argued the ban was a bigoted response to a problem that doesn’t exist, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana saying it planned a lawsuit against what it called “hateful legislation.”
Federal judges have halted enforcement of such laws in Idaho and West Virginia, while the U.S. Justice Department has challenged bans in other states as violations of federal law.
Schelling said the group held a campaign to write letters to Huston; Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville; state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso; and state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; “to hopefully encourage them to not override the veto.”
The group sent out 63 letters on Monday, Schelling said, and it hasn’t received a response yet. Still, Schelling said he is hopeful there won’t be enough votes to override the veto.
“I am hopeful. We will see, how many people cross that line,” Schelling said.
During the letter-writing campaign, Schelling said one of the young people he works with asked why the legislature sees transgender youth as a threat.
“It’s really hard to explain to kids how people’s personal judgments have come into our government and into our world in general,” Schelling said. “I know there are kids who are impacted greatly by (the legislation) just from the questions that I am already getting.”
The legislature is trying to address something where there isn’t an issue, Schelling said, and the IHSAA already has a policy in place for transgender athletes.
“I don’t understand why, as government officials or the government in general, needs to add more to it when there is already something in place,” Schelling said.
Julie Storbeck, president of Northwest Indiana National Organization for Women and Indiana NOW, said she and other members of the organization will join ACLU Indiana in a rally ahead of the override vote. Before the rally, ACLU Indiana has asked transgender girls to come to the statehouse and play sports, she said.
“I think it’s very, very important as (the legislators) go in (to the statehouse) that they see for themselves that on Tuesday, on a workday, there are that many people in Indiana who oppose their taking away constitutional rights and protections from transgender students,” Storbeck said. “They need to see us.”
The fact that the legislature has chosen to return for a technical corrections day to address a bill that limits the rights of transgender girls, shows “how extremist Indiana has become,” Storbeck said.
“It is a coordinated attack coming from hardcore, right-wing Republican legislatures all across the country, which tells you this is not even an original thought,” Storbeck said. “They are hate-mongering tools of someone else’s agenda.”
To transgender girls, Storbeck said she would first take time to listen to her speak and share her feelings and thoughts, and be sure to tell her that she’s valued, valid and that “she’s a phenomenal, beautiful human being.”
“I would just want to give her as much comfort and support and deep respect as I could muster,” Storbeck said.
Storbeck said she questions why Republicans are always targeting girls when they draft and pass legislation. Storbeck said she does not agree with the notion that this legislation is needed to save girls’ sports and teams.
“They are not saving women’s sports. They don’t care about women’s sports. It is because of them that we have to have Title IX. It is because of them that we have to have legal protections in order to be able to play sports,” Storbeck said. “They don’t care about women’s sports, that is just a distraction.”
Sports teaches athletes team work, builds self esteem, improves health, “all of these wonderful things that go beyond a scoreboard,” Storbeck said.
“How are they saving women’s sports by denying people an opportunity to boost their self esteem, to enjoy social interactions with their peers, to develop that self confidence, to be comfortable in their bodies and to nourish their bodies? How is denying them these experiences saving women’s sports? It’s not. It’s doing the opposite,” Storbeck said.