Pennsylvania Legislative Committee Passes Transgender Sports Ban Bill

On Tuesday, a committee in the Pennsylvania state legislature advanced a bill that would ban so-called “transgender women” from competing in women’s sports.

According to The Hill, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ Education Committee approved the legislation by a vote of 15-9. The bill, if passed into law, would make it so that “athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls…may not be open to students of the male sex.” The bill defines “sex” as the “biological distinction between male and female based on reproductive biology and genetic make-up,” and would include public schools, community colleges, and state universities.

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NCAA Threatens to Pull Competitions Out of Florida over Women’s Sports Act

The NCAA is threatening to pull key competitions and championships out of Florida since Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” yesterday. The new law prohibits transgender women from competing in high school and collegiate women’s athletics.

“In Florida, girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play boys sports,” DeSantis said, speaking at a private school in Jacksonville.

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Florida Transgender Sports Ban Advances Despite Potential Backlash

Women playing lacrosse

Florida Republicans are advancing bills banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports despite – perhaps, in spite of – potential corporate criticism and likely sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“I certainly couldn’t care less,” House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said Wednesday after the House approved the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in a 77-40 vote after a four-hour debate in which 18 amendments were rejected.

The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, House Bill 1475, filed by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, would enact a blanket ban on transgender athletes competing as women in Florida. Transgender athletes could still compete in men’s sports.

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