Transgender Flag.Photo: getty images
Lawmakers in South Carolina are the latest to pass bans prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in public schools and colleges.
Under the new law, transgender athletes will be required to compete as the gender listed on their birth certificate rather than the gender they personally identify with.
People holding transgender flags.Getty
South Carolina is the latest state to pass some form of a transgender ban during the current legislative session, joining states such as Idaho, Arizona and Pennsylvania that have successfully passed similar bills.
On Monday, Georgia legislators passed House Bill 1084, which allows local athletic associations to decide whether or not to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' leagues,perThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Republican state representative Bill Yeartatold WALBthat the goal of the bill is to create fairness, not attack transgender youth. “[The bill] creates an athletic oversight committee to look at that issue and determine if transgender individuals should be able to participate in high school sports with the gender they identify with,” Yearta said.
In his veto letter, Cox said his goal is to “err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion” when in doubt, despite his personal “struggle to understand so much of it.” He later added, “Trans sports is a terribly difficult issue. Please be kind to everyone.”
Holcomb said in his own veto letter that he did not believe the Indiana bill was addressing an existing problem within the state’s public school districts,according to NPR. He also said it was unclear to him if the ban would be consistently applied across the state’s public schools.
“After thorough review, I find no evidence to support either claim even if I support the overall goal,” Holcomb wrote, per the outlet.
Woman covered with transgender flag at protest.Getty
In addition to transgender athletes' participation in women’s sports, government officials in some states are going after individual rights to seek gender-affirming care.A bill introducedin the S.C. House of Representatives in March would prohibit doctors from providing transition-related care to individuals under the age of 18.
Under the proposed law, medical professionals could be charged with a felony and face up to 20 years in prison for providing transition-related care to transgender minors,according to South Carolina United for Justice and Equality.
If the bill becomes law, all faculty members at schools in South Carolina would be required to inform a students' parents should they learn of a student’s “perception of [their] gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”
Alabama lawmakers introduced a similar bill earlier this year. In March, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Senate-approved legislation, which would make it illegal for doctors to perform surgeries on transgender youth or provide them with puberty blockers and hormones,NBC reported.
That same month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbottsent a letterdirecting the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances” of gender reassignment surgery in minors, which he called “abusive.”
source: people.com
