Utah Legislature overrides governor's veto of transgender sports ban bill

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

Utah state lawmakers on Friday overrode their Republican governor’s veto of a bill that would ban transgender students from playing girls’ sports, ensuring the controversial piece of legislation will go into effect.

During a special session called specifically to consider a veto override, both Republican-controlled chambers of the state Legislature met the two-thirds threshold to revive the bill.

The measure passed 21-8 in the Senate and 56-18 in the House. Ten Republicans in Utah's state House and five in the state Senate who had previously voted against the bill changed their votes to support the bill during the override session. Both chambers voted on Friday without additional debate.

Under the forthcoming law, transgender girls will be prohibited from playing on school sports teams aligning with their gender identity. The bill’s language bars “a student of the male sex from competing against another school on a team designated for female students.” It defines “sex” as the “biological, physical condition of being male or female, determined by an individual’s genetics and anatomy at birth.”

-snip-

March 25, 2022, 4:49 PM EDT
By Adam Edelman


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/utah-legislature-overrides-governors-veto-transgender-sports-ban-bill-rcna21459

[TreasonousBastard]

1. That's a really BIG step backwards. Maybe even two.

[RussBLib]

2. does the GOP think that....

.... male athletes are acting frivously in declaring themselves to be transgender, that the exercise to go from male to female is just so this person can win more trophies, that a willingness to endure ridicule and risk bodily harm (from red-blooded males) is just for show?

[Miguelito Loveless]

6. Yes

That’s what they think.

[obamanut2012]

8. Yes, and so do some on the left

Including here

[hay rick]

3. Sadly, Lia Thomas has changed this discussion.

Talk of inclusion, support, and non-discrimination will be smothered by the specter of unfair competition. The vote switchers in Utah see that.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

5. No she didn't

She's just the latest excuse from transphobes on both sides

And if Lia Thomas never existed, the bigots would find a new excuse

[obamanut2012]

9. Exactly

[IngridsLittleAngel]

4. Fucking Nazis

[RussBLib]

7. it took a long time....

... centuries, until gay men and women became accepted in western countries. They still suffer persecution and prosecution in heavily religious counties.

I am afraid tha the idea of transgender is likewise going to take a long while to become accepted, but it will get there.

[Ron Obvious]

10. So why are sports segregated in the first place?

Because men would have a massive unfair advantage competing against women, that's why.

That advantage doesn't go away if they identify as women, does it? Hormone drugs or changing testosterone levels don't change that substantially either. And so that wouldn't be fair to the natal girls and women, now would it? There might be scholarships involved as well as issues of representation.

Some people have gone off the deep end on this issue probably because this is framed as bigotry and transphobia by the activists.

Don't throw the girls under the bus because you're cowed by accusations of bigotry, please.

I suspect this post may be hidden as well as my previous one on the subject, but we'll see.

[BobTheSubgenius]

11. That's my position, as well.

I am as solid a supporter of LGBTQ rights as anyone you're likely to meet. One of my best friends came out while we were roommates in the mid-70s, and it didn't cause a ripple with me, or our close friends. I've been familiar with the gestalt for decades, and will happily voice my position publicly to trolls and any other foes, online or IRL.

That being said, physiology is what it is. Lia was obviously moved into the #1 ranking of that event among female swimmers, based on that championship. Her ranking in the male division before she started hormone therapy was #462. That seems noteworthy, to me.

Serena Williams, almost certainly the consensus pick as the #1 women's tennis player of all time, was invited by a male counterpart to compete in a men's event. Her answer to the interviewer who asked her for a response was "I have no wish to lose 6-0, 6-0 in ten minutes. I don't need to be humiliated."

There is a reason that sports have men's and women's divisions.

[hay rick]

12. Ron DeSantis is counting on that kneejerk reaction.

He declared the second-place finisher as the champion at a press conference in the fervent hope that he wlll be accused of bigotry and transphobia. It plays well with his base and the 6 ft 4 inch Lia is a walking poster for unfair competition.

Transgender rights should not be predicated on ignoring the rights of female athletes to compete on a level playing field.

[pfitz59]

13. I was censored twice on this subject

Only time in over 20 years on DU I was silenced. Some militant folk refuse to acknowledge opposing views

[catsudon]

15. some opposing views are not transphobic

i'm heavily involved in LGBT community Richmond, Virginia and many of us think the same way.

[catsudon]

14. same

sports are split into male and female due to physical ability, gender identity is only secondary.

why do we have Paralympics? to give handicapped people with similar physical ability a chance to compete.

right wing assholes would rather just have man's sport

i think it is time to split sports into cis and non cis.

[madville]

16. My solution would be to have

Two categories, a female category open to only women who were born biological females. Then an Open category that anyone can compete in. This allows everyone an opportunity to compete and biological females a fair level playing field.