On March 4, Alaskans are invited to weigh in on a bill aimed at banning males who identify as transgender” from competing against biological females in high school sports.
The bill aims to ensure fairness for Alaska’s female athletes. Introduced last spring by State Senate Majority Leader Shelley Hughes (R-Palmer), the bill is one of more than a dozen introduced across the nation. Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and at least seven other states have already passed these types of laws.
Senate Bill 140 clarifies that “sex” means “biological sex” and it requires all schools to designate each of its athletic teams or sports as either being for males, females or coeducational.
“A student who participates in an athletic team or sport designated female, women, or girls must be female, based on the participant’s biological sex,” the bill states.
The legislation would also prohibit any accrediting or athletic association or school district from taking “adverse action against a school or school district for complying” with the law.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
On the other hand, a student, school or school district that is “deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers direct or indirect harm” resulting from a violation of the proposed law “may bring a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages, and any other relief available under law against the violating school.”
Additionally, the bill protects students and employees who report violations of the law.
Under current Alaska practice, the Alaska School Activities Association allows biological males to compete against females in state high school championship events. Several school districts, including Anchorage and Fairbanks also allow males who identify as females to participate in girls’ sports. Senate Bill 140 would prohibit this.
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that males who identify as transgender can far outperform women in sporting events. A new study in Sports Medicine showed that even transgender hormone drugs have a very minimal impact on the physical advantages that biological males enjoy it comes to athletics.
The bill has been sitting in the Senate Education Committee since last spring.
TAKING ACTION
— Click here to contact Sen. Shelley Hughes
— Email the Senate Education Committee at Senate.Education@akleg.gov.
— Click here to contact members of the Senate Education Committee.
— To call in and testify on March 4, contact your local Legislative Information Office for more information, or call 907-465-4648.
9 Comments
Great news.
Thinking out of the box, what would be wrong with Transgenders forming their own leagues, so transgender males compete against transgender males. That would bring things into balance again by keeping females safe, without hurting anyone’s feelings.
Who locker room they going to use? Actually I was thinking on the same lines. You’d have men, women and transgenders compete.
If they don’t do a three way split the transgenders can still compete as women but not be allowed to be declared a winner. Only biological women can win and or place.
Most places also have single use bathrooms available which someone could utilize. But too many people would rather impose on biological women and make those “offended” to see a man in their locker room use the single use restrooms
But it would hurt feelings. The boys who think they are girls would be upset because we don’t accept them as girls. That’s the whole point of Transgender, being accepted. In other words, none of us are allowed to say the emperor is naked, we all have to pretend that he has the nicest suit of clothes in the world.
with the RINOS caucusing with the democrats, I can’t imagine this will pass both chambers.
“A student who participates in an athletic team or sport designated female, women, or girls must be female, based on the participant’s biological sex,” the bill states.
If you have a set of balls your a male, boy, man, you cannot compete against females
End of story
Oh man, that’s going to bring some tears.
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Does anyone else think it’s stupid to have to draft a bill for this?????????????? But hey, why stop at gender? What about age? Can someone who is 40 decide that they are really 25? Or 65…and get those retirement benefits?