Photo courtesy of Metro Weekly.
By Gigi Picard ‘22
Sports Editor
Less than a month after President Joe Biden signed over a dozen executive orders on his first day in office, a new piece of state-level legislation in Utah has been passed that defies one of Biden’s orders surrounding equality for transgender athletes in sports. On Feb. 17, 2021, the Utah House passed Bill 302 by a vote of 50-23, seeking to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
Utah’s ABC4 explained that the bill means that public schools have to keep sports specific to boys and girls and cannot allow “any athlete of the male sex from participating in a sport designated for females.”
Republican Utah State Representative and girls’ basketball coach Kera Birkeland sponsored, introduced and helped pass House Bill 302. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Birkeland claimed “she has ‘many friends who are transgender’ and that it wasn’t her ‘intention to [exclude] them from the sport.’” However, Birkeland said, “we have to weigh that against what is fair for our female athletes.” The bill prohibits transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports in K-12 public and private schools.
One of the most prominent arguments against transgender athletes in women’s sports states that transgender women, “because they were born male, are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than those born female and therefor[e] have an unfair advantage in sports,” NBC News stated.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Utah Senator Mike Lee created and introduced the Protect Women and Girls in Sports Act, a bill that was co-sponsored by 13 additional senators, on Feb. 5, 2021, on top of Birkeland’s bill, which was considered more local. “When transgender athletes compete against women, women’s sports are no longer women’s sports,” Lee said. “They become unisex athletic events.” Lee added that he was certain his bill “would protect the opportunity of girls throughout America to athletically compete against other girls.”
Utah Senator Mitt Romney also said, “They shouldn’t be competing with people who are physiologically in an entirely different category. And I think boys should be competing with boys and girls should be competing with [girls] on the athletic field.”
This is not the first time a bill banning transgender people from sports has circulated throughout a state. Aside from in Utah, anti-transgender bills have passed in the North Dakota and Montana State Houses as well as the Mississippi Senate. Likewise, states including Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas have contemplated signing transgender bans into law.
Idaho has faced legal trouble with its proposed legislation attempting to prohibit transgender women from competing in sports. In 2020, a federal judge ruled against Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act after the American Civil Liberties Union stepped in to challenge the bill.
The Utah House Democrats tweeted a statement denouncing the bill’s passing and potential legal challenges. “The passage of H.B. 302 from the House today needlessly targets youth who are already marginalized and vulnerable to mental anguish and suicide,” it stated. “To discriminate against transgender female athletes in Utah’s K-12 school sports is bad policy and reflects poorly on our entire state. … Instead of persecuting kids who deserve our love and support, just let them play sports and let us get back to issues that benefit our constituents,” the tweet read.
The governor of Utah, conservative Republican Spencer Cox, stated he would not sign Birkeland’s bill. “I think there’s still much that we can do to protect women’s sports and also to send a message to trans kids that there’s a place for them, and that they belong,” Cox said in a televised news conference. “These kids are — they’re just trying to stay alive,” he continued. “There’s a reason none of them are playing sports and … I just think there’s a better way. And I hope that there will be enough grace in our state to find a better solution.”
After Cox’s speech, LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality Utah tweeted, “It’s true. The more you hang out with transgender kids, the more you love and adore them. Thank you @GovCox for sending a message of love and hope out to these kiddos. It’s been a rough week.”
Since House Bill 302 passed through the Utah House, it will move to the Utah Senate and make its way to Cox’s desk if passed.