Tennessee House Republicans Urge NCAA to End ‘Unfair’ Transgender Policies Allowing Biological Men to Compete Against Women

State Rep. Johnny Garrett

A letter from the Tennessee House Republican Caucus to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was published Tuesday, showing the House Republicans urged the NCAA to drop its rules allowing biological males who identify as transgender females to compete in women’s sports during its ongoing annual convention in Nashville.

Signed by every Republican in the State House, the letter was written by State Representative Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) and sent on January 9, and specifically pressed the NCAA to reverse its 2010 rule change that lawmakers wrote allowed, “men who decide to be women” to “displace real women in competitive sports,” at colleges throughout the country.

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Virginia Bill to Require Physicians Affirm Biological Gender of Athletes, Ban Male-to-Female Transgender Students from Girls’ Teams

Softball

Legislation proposed in the Virginia General Assembly on December 1 by Senator Tammy Brankley Mulchi (R-Clarksville) would require student athletes to provide a written statement by a physician that affirms they seek to participate in a sports team that corresponds to their biological gender, prevents biological males from playing on teams designated for girls, under the threat of civil litigation.

Blankley Mulchi’s SB 749 would require schools to clearly state whether sports teams are male, female, or coed, and mandates any team participating in the Virginia High School Sports League which “is expressly designated for ‘females,’ ‘women,’ or ‘girls,'” must “not be open to any student of the male sex.”

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Pair of Bills Prohibiting Biological Males from Competing Against Women in Local Education Associations and Collegiate Sports Advance Through Legislative Process

A pair of bills that essentially prohibit biological males from competing in women’s  Local Education Association and Collegiate sports continue to advance through the Tennessee General Assembly legislative process.

SB1861, sponsored by State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), was overwhelmingly approved by both the chambers in the Tennessee General Assembly. SB2153, also sponsored by Hensley, was overwhelmingly passed in the state Senate, 27-4, and is scheduled to be considered by the House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee on Tuesday, April 19.

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Tennessee Legislators File Legislation Banning Biological Males from Women’s Collegiate Sports

Women playing lacrosse

Two Tennessee Republican legislators have filed companion bills banning biological males from competing in women’s collegiate sports.

State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-SD28) and Representative John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge-HD33) filed SB1862 and HB1894 on Thursday. Senator Hensley is a physician who achieved his M.D. at the University of Tennessee-Memphis.

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Florida Democrats Working to Repeal Transgender Athlete Ban

Kristen Arrington and Gary Farmer

Florida State Rep. Kristen Aston Arrington (D-FL-43) filed a companion bill to Florida Sen. Gary Farmer’s (D-FL-34) SB 212 to repeal a transgender athlete ban from last legislative session.

Last legislative session, Florida Republicans passed a transgender athlete ban which banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports in high school and college, and athletic participation is determined by sex assigned on a birth certificate. The ban, which many in the Florida Capitol thought was dead, was resurrected by Florida Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R-FL-55).

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