Minnesota DFL Legislators Want to Enshrine Trans Sports in State Law, Ban Removal of LGBT Flags

A group of Democrats are putting forward legislation to enshrine transgender sports in state statute and ban the removal of LGBT flags in many public places.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers have signed on to HF 4394 in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Authored by Rep. Leigh Finke, D-St. Paul, this bill would require the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) commissioner to develop a “gender inclusion policy” that must be adopted in some form by school districts across the state.

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Biden Administration Launches New Policies to Keep LGBTQ Individuals ‘Safe’ and Ensure Children Are ‘Affirmed’ in Their Gender Identity

The Biden administration announced new “actions” Thursday centered on ensuring LGBTQ individuals are protected from perceived “attacks on their rights and safety,” including state laws that protect children and teens from a predatory transgender medical industry.

The announcement of the “new actions,” the Biden administration said, is made “in celebration of Pride Month.”

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Gov. Glenn Youngkin: ‘I Don’t Think Biological Boys Should Be Playing Sports with Biological Girls’

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) delivered a straightforward response to a 17-year-old girl identifying as a boy who asked the governor about school restrooms and sports policies that place biological sex above gender identity.

During a CNN Townhall, Nico, a 17-year-old girl who identifies as a boy, asked Youngkin about his school policies requiring students to use the bathrooms and play on the athletic teams consistent with their biological sex.

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Suspended Vermont Student and Coach Father Sue School District for Retaliating After Complaint About Biological Male in Girls’ Locker Room

A Vermont high school volleyball player who was suspended from school and her father, the team’s coach, who was suspended from his job, are suing the school district for retaliating against them following their complaint about the policy that allows biological males in the girls’ team locker room.

Blake Allen, 14, a student at Randolph Union Middle School, and her father, Travis Allen, who coaches his daughter’s volleyball team, spoke out against a biological male, claiming to be female, being allowed in the girls’ team locker room while they were changing. Now, the family is suing the school district after Blake was suspended and Travis was fired from his job, asserting the district retaliated against them, the Daily Signal reported Thursday.

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Vermont High School Girls Volleyball Team Banned from Locker Room After Objecting to Trans Player’s Presence

The Randolph Union High School girls’ volleyball team in Vermont was reportedly banned from its locker room after some girls on the team objected to the presence of a biological male, who claims to be female, while the girls were changing clothes.

School officials, WCAX-TV reported, banned the girls from their locker room because Vermont’s policy states transgender athletes can participate on sports teams and use the private facilities consistent with their chosen gender.

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Connecticut GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Bob Stefanowski Announces ‘Parental Bill of Rights’

Connecticut Republican candidate for governor Bob Stefanowski announced a “Parental Bill of Rights” that seeks to empower the state’s parents to make education and healthcare decisions for their children.

“During the last several years, the pendulum has swung too far against the rights of parents and their ability to make critical decisions for their children in terms of education, healthcare, and the teaching of moral values they hold dear,” Stefanowski said Tuesday. “As Governor, I am going to reverse that trend and restore parental rights in a significant and meaningful way.”

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Federal Judge Upholds Tennessee Trans Sports Ban

A federal judge in Tennessee Friday granted a temporary injunction on behalf of the state of Tennessee, which was caught in a legal entanglement with President Joe Biden’s administration on the subject of transgender sports. 

“As it currently stands, plaintiffs must choose between the threat of legal consequences – enforcement action, civil penalties, and the withholding of federal funding – or altering their state laws to ensure compliance with the guidance and avoid such adverse action,” Judge Charles Atchley, a 2020 appointee of former President Donald Trump, said in granting Tennessee’s motion for an injunction against the federal government. 

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Anti-CRT Bill Takes Effect Friday in Georgia

A bill that restricts schools from teaching “divisive concepts” like Critical Race Theory (CRT) will take effect Friday. 

HB 1084, which passed the Republican-controlled General Assembly in April and was signed into law shortly thereafter, “require[s] local boards of education, local school superintendents, and the governing bodies of charter schools to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race [and] require[s] that curricula and training programs shall encourage such employees not to judge others based on race,” according to the text of the bill. 

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Bill Banning Transgender Athletics Takes Effect This Week

A Tennessee bill that bans biological males from participating in female athletic competition will take effect this week. 

HB 1895, which passed through the Tennessee General Assembly in April and was subsequently signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee (R), says “the commissioner of education to withhold a portion of the state education finance funds that a [Local Education Association] is otherwise eligible to receive if the LEA fails or refuses to determine a student’s gender, for purposes of participation in school sports, by the student’s sex at the time of birth…”

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Blackburn Blasts Trans Sports on 50th Anniversary of Title IX

A U.S. Senator from Tennessee blasted transgender sports allowing biological men to compete against biological females Thursday, on what was the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

“Joe Biden is intent on erasing women and their historical accomplishments. No matter what the left says, men and women are created physically different – that’s a fact,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told The Tennessee Star. “What Joe Biden is seeking to implement in female sports will result in two teams – one team of men and another team of folks that used to be men. It is extremely unfair to female athletes like Riley Gaines, that have dedicated their entire life to a sport only to be defeated by an athlete that was a man just three years ago.” 

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Ohio House Passes Bill Banning Transgender Players in Sports

The Ohio State House last week passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from participating.

“The Save Women’s Sports Act is a fairness issue for women. Across our country, female athletes are currently losing championships, scholarship opportunities, medals, education and training opportunities, and more to discriminatory policies that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports,” Powell said.

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Petition to Discharge Rep. Steube’s Transgender Sports Bill Garners More than 60 Signatures in House

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives this week are working to force a floor vote a bill authored by a Florida Congressman that would ban biological males from competing in female athletics. 

“I, Jim Banks, move to discharge the Committee on Education and Labor from the consideration of the bill (H.R. 426) entitled, a bill to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth, which was referred to said committee January 21st, 2021, in support of which motion the undersigned Members of the House of Representatives affix their signatures…” said a Discharge Petition authored by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN-03). 

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Pennsylvania ACLU Organizes Petition in Favor of Trans Athletes

A far-left nonprofit is advocating against a bill passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that says transgender athletes must participate in athletic competition based on their sex at birth.

“Transgender people want to participate in athletics for the same reasons as their peers: to challenge themselves, improve fitness, and be part of a team. Banning trans students from participation in athletics is cruel and discriminatory,” the Pennsylvania ACLU said in a petition on its website. 

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Republican Candidate for Connecticut Governor Won’t Commit to Banning Trans Athletes

Connecticut’s Republican nominee for governor Tuesday would not commit to banning biologically male transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, instead choosing to tiptoe around the issue. 

“Connecticut law prohibits discrimination,” Bob Stefanowski reportedly said. “It’s incumbent upon the high school athletic conferences to seek out the voices of young female athletes, coaches and parents to come up with policies that ensure a level playing field and protect girls’ sports.”

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Bill to Withhold Funds from Schools That Allow Transgender Athletes Passes Tennessee House

A bill that would strip some funding from schools who break Tennessee’s new law on transgender athletes Thursday passed the Tennessee State House of Representatives. 

“I’m very pleased that the House passed this legislation and I’m confident the Senate chamber will pass it as well. It’s illogical to think sporting competitions involving speed, strength and endurance with males competing against females is a fair contest,” State Rep. John Ragan (R-District 33), the primary sponsor of the bill, told The Tennessee Star Friday.

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Virginia Tech Swimmer Writes Letter to NCAA in Opposition to Transgender Athletes

A female swimmer at a Virginia university wrote a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) saying she was cheated out of a spot in the NCAA national championship 500-meter race because of biologically male, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. 

Reka Gyorgy, a senior student-athlete at Virginia Tech University, called Thomas’ participation in the event “a problem.”

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Defiant DeSantis Signs Bill That Bans Transgender Girls from Girls Sports

Women playing lacrosse

A defiant Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday signed a bill banning transgender girls – biological boys – from competing in girls sports. 

“At a bill signing event at the Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, DeSantis touted the ban as a way to protect the integrity of women’s and girls’ sports,” Tampa Bay Times reported, describing the bill as “controversial.”

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A Win for Tennessee’s Female Athletes: House Passes Bill Protecting Girls in Sports, Now Heads to Governor for Approval

The Tennessee General Assembly determined that girls in sports shouldn’t have to fear lost opportunities or bodily harm due to transgender athletes. The House passed House Bill 3 on Monday, after a debate lasting nearly half an hour.

In the House, the bill passed largely along party lines: 71 to 16, with 5 persons abstaining their vote. Only one Republican voted against the bill: State Representative Eddie Mannis (R-Knoxville). Only two Democrats voted for the bill: State Representatives Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) and John Mark Windle (D-Livingston).

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Tennessee House Postpones Decision on Transgender Sports Bill – Sponsor Awaiting Supporters to Return for Vote

State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) requested Thursday that the final vote on the bill be delayed to next Monday’s calendar. Cepicky cited that numerous representatives wanted to vote on the bill but couldn’t on Thursday. This bill would require youths to participate in sports according to their biological sex at birth.

The general assembly has moved along steadily on this legislation: the Senate passed the bill on the first of this month easily along party lines. The only members to vote against the bill were Democratic State Senators Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis), Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville), Sara Kyle (D-Memphis), Katrina Robinson (D-Memphis), and Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville).

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Tennessee Senate Passes Bill Protecting Girls in Sports

The Senate passed a bill requiring proof of biological sex at birth for participation in interscholastic youth sports. This would, effectively, prohibit transgender individuals from joining sports teams of the opposite sex. This companion bill by State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) passed 27-6.

The bill was introduced initially by State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) several days after the general election. If passed, it will pose a direct challenge to President Joe Biden. Biden had declared that gender identity was a protected class under discrimination laws in one of his initial executive orders.
The bill, introduced by State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) several days after the general election, poses a challenge to one of President Joe Biden’s first executive orders. Biden had declared that gender identity was a protected class under discrimination laws.

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Tennessee General Assembly Moves on Bill Protecting Girls in Sports, Challenging Biden’s Executive Order

Once again, Tennessee’s General Assembly has taken up a bill ensuring biological sex is a factor in youth sports. Although the bill would apply to both genders, its preamble identified girls as the motivator for drafting the legislation. It referenced the general biological differences between the genders in competition, as well as noted the impact on female athletes when it comes to college recruiting and scholarship opportunities.

“[I]t is unfortunate for some girls that those dreams, goals, and opportunities for participation, recruitment, and scholarships can be directly and negatively affected by new school policies permitting boys who are male in every biological respect to compete in girls’ athletic competitions if they claim a female gender identity,” stated the bill. 

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234 House Democrats, Two Republicans Co-Sponsor Bill Forcing Schools to Let Male Athletes Compete on Girls’ Sports Teams

by Peter Hasson   Every House Democrat but one has co-sponsored a bill requiring schools to allow male athletes who identify as transgender girls to compete on female sports teams. Democrats’ Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make “sexual orientation and gender identity” protected characteristics under federal anti-discrimination law. Among other things, the bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls. Sarah Warbelow, director of the left-wing Human Rights Campaign, praised the bill’s impact on high school sports in written testimony submitted to a House subcommittee on Tuesday. “Opponents of equality in athletics for transgender athletes have argued that girls who are transgender have unfair physiological advantages over cisgender girls and as a result, will dominate women’s competitive sports,” Warbelow wrote, calling it not “rooted in fact” that biologically male athletes will outperform their female counterparts. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, made a similar argument during an April 2 hearing his committee held on the legislation. “Many states have sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination laws, and all of them still have women’s sports. Arguments about transgender athletes participating…

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