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05/06 16:53 CDT Pennsylvania Senate votes to ban transgender athletes in girls'
sports, but bill faces uphill battle
Pennsylvania Senate votes to ban transgender athletes in girls' sports, but
bill faces uphill battle
By MARC LEVY
Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) --- Pennsylvania's state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill
to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports at the
collegiate and K-12 levels, although the Republican-penned bill is unlikely to
get a vote in the state's Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
The bill passed, 32-18, with five Democrats crossing party lines to join with
all 27 Republicans in voting "yes." The vote marked the second time the
GOP-controlled Senate has passed it. An earlier attempt, in concert with a
Republican-controlled House, met then-Gov. Tom Wolf's veto pen in 2022.
This time, Senate Republicans are advancing the effort after President Donald
Trump declared his intent to "keep men out of women's sports." and made it a
major campaign issue in last year's election, dividing Democrats on how to
respond.
The bill applies to participation in girls' and women's sports that are
sponsored by public schools, public universities and publicly chartered
community colleges.
It also prohibits any sort of government agency or athletic association from
investigating or punishing a school or higher education institution for
maintaining separate sports teams for girls or women.
For well over an hour, Republicans and Democrats debated the bill, at times
hotly. The sponsor, Sen. Judy Ward, a Republican from Blair, said the bill
would "ensure all young women have a fair chance to compete in the sports they
love." Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, a Democrat from Allegheny, called the
bill discriminatory against transgender people, as well as "unnecessary,
unwarranted and unconstitutional in my mind."
Democrats warned that the bill will go nowhere, and a spokesperson for House
Democratic leaders accused Senate Republicans of being "more focused on
divisive political theater and bullying kids for political points." Democratic
Gov. Josh Shapiro's office did not respond to an inquiry about the bill,
although he has in the past expressed opposition to such bans.
Trump, as president, signed an executive order intended to ban transgender
athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports.
Pennsylvania's governing body for high school sports, the Pennsylvania
Interscholastic Athletic Association, then changed its policy in a move that
some officials said was designed to follow Trump's order, except that lawyers
on both sides of the issue say the change in policy wording does nothing of the
sort.
PIAA said it was aware of one transgender student participating in sports, but
declined to say anything more about it, saying it is the subject of litigation.
In response to Trump's order, the NCAA revised its transgender participation
policy to limit women's college sports to athletes assigned as female at birth.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, a governing body for
smaller schools, effectively banned transgender athletes in 2023 from women's
sports.
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Follow Marc Levy on X at: https://x.com/timelywriter.
