What to know
- The Pennsylvania State Senate supports a bill to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in female and girls sports at college and K-12 levels. However, the Bill on the Republicans which was adopted on Tuesday does not vote in the House of Representatives controlled by the State.
- The bill was adopted, 32-18, marking the second time that the GOP controlled Senate adopted it.
- A previous attempt, with a house under republican control, then met Gov. Tom Wolf veto in 2022.
- The bill applies to the participation in the sports of girls and women who are sponsored by public schools, public universities and community colleges in public charter.
The Pennsylvania State Senate approved on Tuesday a bill to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in female and girls sports at college and kindergarten in the 12th year, although the state -controlled state -controlled bill.
The bill was adopted, 32-18, with five democrats crossing the lines of the party to join the 27 Republicans to vote “yes”. The vote marked the second time that the GOP controlled Senate adopted it. A previous attempt, in concert with a house under republican control, then met Gov. Tom Wolf veto pen in 2022.
This time, the Senate Republicans advanced the effort after President Donald Trump declared his intention to “keep men away from female sports”. And made it a major campaign problem During last year’s elections, divide the Democrats on how to react.
The bill applies to the participation in the sports of girls and women who are sponsored by public schools, public universities and community colleges in public charter.
It also prohibits any kind of government agency or sports association from investigating or punishing a school or higher education establishment for having maintained separate sports teams for girls or women.
For more than an hour, the Republicans and the Democrats debated the bill, sometimes strongly. The sponsor, Senator Judy Ward, a Bounty Bounty Republican, said the bill “would ensure that all young women have a good chance of participating in the sports they like”.
Ward said that since 2020 in Pennsylvania, 37 female athletes have lost first place and 13 others have lost the second or third place, even if she did not say where she pulled the statistics. The Pennsylvania director for secondary school sports, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, said it was aware that a single transgender student currently participating in sports.
The head of the Senate minority, Jay Costa, Democrat of the County of Allegheny, qualified the discriminatory bill against transgender people, as well as “unnecessary, unjustified and unconstitutional in my mind”.
Democrats have warned that the bill will nowhere go to the House, and a spokesperson for the Democrats of the Chamber accused the Senate Republicans of being “more focused on the political theater and the intimidation of children for political points”.
Governor’s office Josh Shapiro refused to comment on the bill on Tuesday, although the Democrat has in the past expressed his opposition to such prohibitions, calling the bill of 2022 “Nothing more than cruel, designed to discriminate young transgender people who just want to practice sports like their peers”.
Trump, as president, sign An executive decree intended to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in the sports of girls and women.
In February, the Piaa has changed its policy In a decision which, according to some officials, was designed to follow Trump’s order, except that lawyers on both sides of the question say that the change in the formulation of policies does nothing of the kind.
Previously, the PIAA policy had postponed school directors to determine the “genre” of an athlete when “questioned or uncertain”. He changed the policy of postponing the directors of the directors to determine the “sex” of a student when he is “questioned or uncertain” and added a line which indicates that, in accordance with the executive order of Trump, “schools are required to consult his school lawyers in relation to compliance with order”.
In response to Trump’s order, NCAA has revised its transgender participation policy to limit the university sports of women to athletes assigned to birth. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, an organ director of small schools, Prohibition of transgender athletes in 2023 female sports.