Transgender girls in North Carolina would be barred from joining girls’ middle school, high school and college sports teams under legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday, in one of its first actions since winning a supermajority earlier this term. months.
The House approved the legislation 73-39, with three Democrats voting in favor of separating sports by biological sex, based solely on students’ “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Trans girls will not be allowed to play on any sports team that matches their gender identity. Transgender boys and cisgender girls could play on teams designated for male athletes only if there was no comparable all-girl team, with the exception of wrestling.
House Republicans rushed the bill through two committees Wednesday after hearing debate from trans and cisgender student athletes. It now heads to the Senate, where a competing proposal could arrive Thursday. The Senate bill would create restrictions only for middle school and high school athletes.
At least 20 other states have imposed similar limits on trans athletes at the K-12 or collegiate level. The North Carolina bills are among several introduced this month that would impact trans residents, including restrictions on medical sex-affirmation procedures for trans youth and criminal penalties for public performances by “male or female impersonators.”
Supporters of the House sports bill argue it would preserve opportunities for cisgender girls and protect their safety. But trans children and their advocates say it’s discrimination disguised as a safety measure.
“This bill is one that needs to be inclusive, not exclusive,” said Rep. Kristin Baker, R-Cabarrus County and lead sponsor. “This bill is to enable fair and extremely safe, physically safe competition.”
Baker and other supporters have repeatedly pointed to a volleyball injury in Cherokee as justification for their claim that trans participation poses an inherent danger to cisgender girls in the state.
Payton McNabb, a senior at Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, suffered a concussion and a neck injury after a transgender athlete hit her in the head with a volleyball during a game at the school in September last year. McNabb said he still suffers from blurred vision, chronic headaches and partial paralysis on his right side.
“I may be the first to come before you with an injury, but if this bill doesn’t pass, I won’t be the last,” she said at a committee meeting Wednesday.
No more than 15 trans athletes have been cleared to play high school sports this year in North Carolina, and only two are trans girls.
Mecklenburg Rep. Tricia Cotham, who gave the Republican Party a veto-protected supermajority this month when she switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, voted in favor of the bill after running last fall on a platform that supports LGBTQ+ rights. Cotham declined to speak to reporters about the bill Wednesday.
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