NASHVILLE, Tennessee. – Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee said on Wednesday that transgender girls should be banned from playing on elementary and high school sports teams or they “would destroy women’s sports.”
“I believe that transgender people who participate in women’s sports will destroy women’s sports,” said Lee, who is running for reelection next year, told reporters. “This will ruin the opportunity for girls to win scholarships. This will put a glass ceiling back on women who haven’t been around for a while. I think it’s bad for women and for women’s sports. “
Lee’s comments came as Tennessee Republicans began submitting a proposal this week requiring student athletes to prove that the student’s gender matches the student’s “original” birth certificate to participate in sports in public schools. If a birth certificate is not available, parents must provide another form of evidence “indicating the student’s gender at the time of birth”.
Lee barely promised to sign the legislation if it reached his table, but instead reiterated that he believes transgender athletes would put “a glass roof over women that hasn’t been around for a while”.
Tennessee is one of a dozen states with lawmakers supporting restrictions on athletics or health care for trans children this year. The proposals come as an increasing number of athletic associations from state high schools in the United States allow transgender athletes to play in teams based on their gender identity, and the NCAA has transinclusive guidelines for all member schools.
Lawmakers debated a similar bill last year, in which the proposal passed the Tennessee House, but ended up stagnating in the Senate.
It is unclear how many transgender students are participating in sports in public schools in Tennessee.
“What a painful thing for a leader to say. There was no incident where this was a problem, ”tweeted Democratic Senator Heidi Campbell. “This is just hate legislation, and countering it with an insult to our LGBTQ community is unnecessary.”
Proponents of the bill argue that transsexual girls, because they were born men, are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than women born, and therefore have an unfair advantage in sports.
Opponents claim that such proposals violate Title IX of the federal education law that prohibits sex discrimination, as well as the decisions of the US Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, others point to an executive order signed by Democratic President Joe Biden that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere.
“I will say that this particular executive order is a tremendous exaggeration of the federal government in the states,” said Lee on Wednesday.
Currently, a similar Idaho law from 2020 has been blocked by a federal judge while a lawsuit is filed.
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