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.
Organizations such as the ACLU of Tennessee have promised to fight the legislation if passed. Contrary to the studies referenced in the bill, the ACLU stated that transgender individuals don’t threaten girls in sports.
Protecting women’s sports is important, but trans girls do not threaten them. The vast majority of trans students just want to play sports for fun with friends and classmates.
If any transgender student is excluded because of this bill, we are prepared to fight it in court. https://t.co/jlzS3aXXyc
— ACLU of Tennessee (@aclutn) March 2, 2021
Likewise, Democrats have roundly condemned the bill, likening it to a political prop.
Past research has stated that transgender women retain physical advantages over their biologically-female peers.
Governor Bill Lee has all but praised the bill. Lee declared that transgender athletes would “destroy women’s sports.” The governor condemned Biden’s executive order as a “tremendous overreach of the federal government.”
On the national level, Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) co-sponsored a bill similar to Cepicky and Hensley’s. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act was last referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor in January; it has yet to receive any further action.
The Tennessee Star inquired with Cepicky’s spokespersons on his thoughts concerning the potential legal challenges the bill might face. The representative didn’t respond with comment by press time.
As The Star reported previously, the bill was a renewed effort of a similar bill proposed by State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) and supported in the Senate by State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) in 2019. That legislation died in committee last June in the midst of the pandemic.
The last action taken in the House was a recommendation for passage by the Education Administration. It is awaiting a final vote.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
That’s nice, but how many Tennesseans does this “problem” even affect?
Well done! Thank you for supporting women.
Finally the TN Legislature is growing a set! And I really do hope that the ACLU challenges this one all the way to the Supreme Court. How exactly is it fair and Title Nine compliant to have an individual who has “Y” chromosomes and the accompanying higher muscle density competing with “XX” individuals? You may call “it” whatever you want, but you can’t change the God-created facts!
Give the Left enough rope, and they will “hang themselves”, IF, the Republic survives long enough!
This is wonderful news.