ADVERTISEMENT

Transgender sports ban advances in the Iowa Legislature

I think the problem here is the Boy’s and the Girl’s HS AthleticUnions can’t figure out how to split the money to be made here!
Kind of like Unity Pointe and Mercy 1 and all their failed “joint ventures” over the years.
 
We aren't Penn, Einstein. We are Iowa. You are doing everything in your power to avoid having to cite that this is a problem in Iowa.
Nice try/fail Huey. You are a ball of overreacting crybaby you know?
 
People on both sides of a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams say students are under attack.


Those who support House File 2309 say girls are being robbed of opportunities to compete in sports on a level playing field when schools allow transgender girls to join their teams and potentially beat out girls for starting spots, medals and scholarships.


People who oppose the legislation say its an attack on transgender students, who already face increased risk of depression, anxiety and suicide and just want to play on a team that matches their gender identities.


“You can put up those health outcomes, those risks, and then put up the benefits of sports. It’s like we have an antidote,” Dr. Katie Imborek, co-director of the University of Iowa’s LGBTQ Clinic, said at a House Education subcommittee meeting Thursday in Des Moines. “This bill pretends to protect girls, but it is solving a problem that doesn’t exist.”


More than 20 people spoke out for and against HF2309, which would require any Iowa schools that get public funding to designate sports programs as one of the following: open to biological females, open to biological males or coeducational.


In a 2-to-1 decision, the subcommittee advanced the bill to the full Education committee. Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Orange City, and Rep. Henry Stone, R-Forest City, supported the bill. Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, opposed it.


Several people who made statements Thursday said it’s not fair for biological males to complete against biological females, even if the boys identify as girls.


“I have five brothers and grew up outnumbered by the boys at every turn. I wouldn’t always be able to keep up, regardless if I wanted to,” said Rebecca Oleson, who works for the Family Leader, a Des Moines-based social conservative organization. “The bottom line is boys and girls are different. Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. Girls should never be sidelined in their own sports.”


Another speaker highlighted recent news stories about Lia Thomas, a transgender woman breaking records as part of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team. Thomas competed as a male swimmer before undergoing hormone treatment as part of her transition, the Washington Post reported.


Sixteen of Thomas’s teammates wrote a letter recently saying they support her decision to affirm her gender identity, but that she should not be allowed to compete against them.


“Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female. If she were to be eligible to compete against us, she could now break Penn, Ivy, and NCAA Women’s Swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete,” the Post reported from the letter.


But in Iowa high schools, there hasn’t been a challenge of a district decision about an athlete’s gender and sports competition, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union told The Gazette in December.


RELATED: Hear from a West High transgender student on the move to ban transgender athletes


School superintendents said at that time they were looking for guidance from the Legislature.


Iowa Code Chapter 216.9 prohibits discrimination in educational institutions based on “race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability.“ But the code excludes school athletic programs.


“You can discriminate if it’s deemed an unfair advantage,” Gary Ross, associate director for the Girls Athletic Union, told The Gazette in December.


Emily Piper, a lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, told the subcommittee Thursday HF2309 puts school administrators in the position of deciding whether they want to violate state law or federal law. There are different interpretations of how Title IX, the federal gender equity law, comes into play with transgender sports participation, according to the National Law Review.


“The end result for school districts will be confusion,” Piper said. “It’s going to be expensive and it will be very difficult to manage.”


Mascher said she wants the state to investigate how much the bill could cost, given provisions the Iowa Attorney General would be required to represent any school district sued because of the legislation.

The newest boogeyman used by Republicans to address a non-existent problem.
 
Since there are no problems in Iowa, then this law does not impact any trans people since it is an Iowa law. Other than wasted time why push back one way or the other if there is no impact?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MikeyHawk
There is an impact. It pushes trans kids into isolation.
But you said none currently compete. Or are you projecting into the future which would mean the law addresses that. It just seems that you disagree with the side the law is taking, which your argument to this point was that there is no impact in Iowa, so it was a waste of time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hawkeye54545
I understand why this bothers LGBT allies, especially after the alarmist bathroom thing. I also agree that some of the people driving this are anti-trans generally.

That said, there is a physiological difference between people who go through puberty as boys and everyone else. It’s why there are age and weight limits in contact sports before you get to high school.
 
Some of them also do it out of fetishization. There are also "gender dysphorics," but to suggest that as the threshold means you're truscum*.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedicalism

Sure, and there’s a long, involved process for anyone who decides to transition. Therapy, drugs, the surgeries themselves.

Whether or not you agree with them doing all this, it’s a time-consuming process, well over a year. This is a law that’s effectively meaningless because of that.

Just work with IHSAA and creat a rule barring trans athletes from competing until they have completed transitioning, have medical requirements thereafter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cigaretteman
Sure, and there’s a long, involved process for anyone who decides to transition. Therapy, drugs, the surgeries themselves.

Whether or not you agree with them doing all this, it’s a time-consuming process, well over a year. This is a law that’s effectively meaningless because of that.

Just work with IHSAA and creat a rule barring trans athletes from competing until they have completed transitioning, have medical requirements thereafter.
What surgery did Lia Thomas have?
 
Couldn't it be more easily solved with a rule from the iowa girls athletic union?

Remember, the union is already trying to pass the buck.

"My name is Ainsley Erzen, and I’m writing to you concerning comments in the Cedar Rapids Gazette that the union needs guidance regarding transgender athletes in sports.

 
Huey,

Not sure why you keep getting hung up on the Iowa aspect. It's happening in America. Several documented cases and they're increasing in frequency. Nothing wrong with being proactive. That's the way laws often come around. Something happens in one state, and other states react.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EasyHawk
But you said none currently compete. Or are you projecting into the future which would mean the law addresses that. It just seems that you disagree with the side the law is taking, which your argument to this point was that there is no impact in Iowa, so it was a waste of time.
It pushes the regular trans kids into isolation. They're fully aware when there are not wanted. This is my point. This isn't a sports bill. It is a trans bashing bill. Sports are just an excuse to try marginalizing them.
 
Huey,

Not sure why you keep getting hung up on the Iowa aspect. It's happening in America. Several documented cases and they're increasing in frequency. Nothing wrong with being proactive. That's the way laws often come around. Something happens in one state, and other states react.
It's not a problem nationally either.
 
This is fine, we also should outlaw girls that are two standard deviations over the average female height….sometimes in basketball that’s really not fair.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Huey Grey
It pushes the regular trans kids into isolation. They're fully aware when there are not wanted. This is my point. This isn't a sports bill. It is a trans bashing bill. Sports are just an excuse to try marginalizing them.
So you have no issues if it were just related to sports and don't disagree that a trans person does have a competitive advantage in athletics when competing against biological females?
 
Remember, the union is already trying to pass the buck.

"My name is Ainsley Erzen, and I’m writing to you concerning comments in the Cedar Rapids Gazette that the union needs guidance regarding transgender athletes in sports.

Has the Union itself asked for input from statehouse? It'd make sense for the legislature to move on some law if they had.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT