The Utah state legislature voted Friday to override the governor’s veto and passed a law banning young transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports, making the state the twelfth in the country to introduce such legislation. .
The new law, known as HB 11, is likely to be challenged in court, lawmakers said. If a lawsuit were filed, the measure would initiate a committee of experts that would determine eligibility in individual cases and evaluate students’ physical characteristics, such as height, weight and wingspan, the legislation states. The law goes into effect on July 1.
Most Republicans in the legislature who voted for the repeal said they were concerned about fairness in girls’ sports, while Democrats who voted against said transgender youth would feel unnecessarily attacked and their mental health suffered.
Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican in his first term who will run for re-election in 2024, faced political backlash from his party when he denounced the bill this month after it was passed at the last minute by Republican state senators. He said in a letter He vetoed Wednesday that he feared an outright ban would endanger the lives of transgender children and believed the bill hadn’t been discussed enough.
“Rarely has so little fear and anger been directed at so few,” he said of the four transgender children who played high school sports in Utah out of approximately 85,000 student athletes.
However, proponents of the measure say that number will increase.
State senator Daniel McCay, who introduced and defended the proposed ban in the state senate, said in an interview that it was unfair for transgender girls to play in girls’ sports and that it is “time to move on” to the issue, which has been discussed in more detail. than three years in the state legislature is debated.
Eleven other states have passed similar laws in recent years as sports participation by transgender girls and women becomes an increasingly divisive topic among political leaders and athletic organizations.
On Monday, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, vetoed a similar bill, saying it would most likely have been challenged in court and not solved an urgent problem. Republican lawmakers are also expected to override his veto.
About being transgender in America
The Arizona legislature passed a bill Thursday that would prevent transgender students from competing on girls’ sports teams. Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, did not say whether he would sign it, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Mr Cox appeared to be aware of the political risk he was taking with his veto, writing that while “it would be much easier and better for me to just sign the law”, he made his decision because he was “trying to doing what I feel is the right thing, regardless of the consequences.”
“I want them to live,” he said of transgender student athletes, adding that the bill could worsen their mental health and increase their risk of suicide.
Mr. Cox’s veto reflected divergent political and personal comparisons in a state still receptive to a moderate form of Republicanism, exemplified by Senator Mitt Romney, local political figures and analysts said.
Those factors included fears that anti-transgender laws were bad for attracting and retaining businesses, Mr. Cox’s own history as sensitive to LGBTQ concerns, and a frustration with lawmakers in his own party who he said had blinded him to adopting the legislation.
Lawmakers have also passed a bill that will indemnify school districts and fund the costs of anticipated lawsuits.
Republican senators and House members, who have supermajorities in both chambers, met virtually on Monday and decided they could hit the two-thirds threshold needed for an overrun, Mr. McCay said.
Troy Williams, the executive director of Equality Utah, an LGBTQ rights group, was involved in negotiating the bill and had advocated allowing transgender youth to participate in girls’ sports. He said he had heard from Republican senators that if they didn’t vote for the ban, “they would lose their race” in the upcoming election.
Mr. Williams described the ban as cruel, discriminatory and an attempt by Republican lawmakers to gain support for a culture war issue while dealing with challengers in their party primaries.
“This was never about protecting women’s sports,” he said. “This is all about protecting their political seats.”
State Senator Daniel W. Thatcher, a Republican who voted against the bill, said Friday that he was considering voting for a repeal to improve his stance on an upcoming Republican state convention. But he decided on Friday to vote against the lifting, saying the bill was flawed and would harm the transgender community.
“If I lose my race, I will lose my race by standing for what I believe in – as I have always done,” said Mr. Thatcher.
State Representative Kera Birkeland, a Republican and the bill’s main sponsor who also coaches girls’ basketball, said she was initially open to compromise but decided a ban was the best solution because it “would preserve the integrity of women’s sport.”
Sue Robbins, a member of Equality Utah’s transgender advisory board, said she was “disappointed” with her lawmakers.
“They decided to just stop talking and introduce a ban because it was too much work for them,” Ms Robbins said. “And I just don’t think that’s good governance.”