Thanks to the help from five Republican Alaska State senators, a bill intended to keep biological males who identify as female from dominating girls’ athletics has been defeated.

On May 17, left-leaning Republican Sen. Natasha von Imhof (Anchorage) moved to table the bill, which removed it from the Senate calendar, thereby making it impossible for the full body to give the legislation an up or down vote.

Sponsored by Sen. Shelley Hughes, the bill has been through multiple committee meetings and public hearings. But with the Alaska Legislature now in recess for the summer, time has run out to consider and pass the legislation on to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s desk for a signature.

“A vote to table the bill is the same as a vote to kill the bill,” Sen. Hughes objected, when von Imhof moved to table the bill.

With five Republicans teaming up with six Democrats, the final vote was 11 to 8 to effectively block the legislation from receiving a final vote.

The five Republicans voting to kill the bill were, Click Bishop (Fairbanks), Josh Revak (Anchorage), Bert Stedman (Sitka), Gary Stevens (Kodiak) and Natasha von Imhof (Anchorage). Sen. Donny Olson (Golovin), a social conservative on many issues, was the lone Democrat who joined the remaining seven Republicans in a failed effort to try and bring the bill to a vote. Sen. Lora Reinbold (R-Eagle River) was absent from the Senate Floor session.

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