Utah Governor Spencer Cox vetoed ban on transgender students practicing sports for girls on Tuesday, becoming the second Republican governor this week to overturn state lawmakers dealing with youth sports amid broader cultural wars as LGBTQ visibility grows.
Leaders of the GOP-dominated legislature, however, quickly called for a veto overturning session and indicated that they had enough support to maintain the ban.
There is also a backlash against Monday’s decision by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to veto a statewide ban. Holcomb said the Indiana legislature had not shown that transgender children had undermined equity in sports.
Cox, for his part, referred to the potential effects on transgender youth.
“It’s hard for me to understand, and science is conflicting. However, when I have doubts, I always try to be wrong on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion,” Cox wrote in a letter to legislative leaders. Utah.
The vetoes occur when Cox and Holcomb’s counterparts in almost a dozen conservative states have enacted similar legislation and politicians delved into transgender children in sports as a campaign theme in states ranging from Missouri to Pennsylvania.
As election season approaches, Republican leaders in Utah have said that listening to their constituents inspired the decision to lift the veto. “Doing nothing is a step backwards for women. Finding a solution to this complicated problem is necessary to maintain fair competition now and in the future,” Utah Senate President Stuart Adams said in a statement. press release.
Shortly after announcing his veto, the governor also called for a special session to provide funding to taxpayers for lawsuits filed against school districts and youth sports organizations, an apparent acknowledgment that his veto would not be maintained.
In Utah, four out of 85,000 transgender players compete in school sports after being considered eligible by the state’s high school sports association. Only one competes in women’s sports. There are no public concerns about competitive advantage.
“Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they’re part of something. Four kids trying to outdo each other every day,” Cox said in the letter explaining his veto, citing suicide rates. for transgender youth. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been addressed to so few. I don’t understand why they’re going through it or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.”
Banning transgender children from the competition, its proponents argue, would have little impact on sports, but it would send a broader and deeply painful message to already vulnerable children who do not belong to a significant part of American school culture.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
The issue was one of the most controversial of the year in a state where most lawmakers are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and respectful politics is hailed as “The Way of Utah.” Deeply conservative leaders and LGBTQ advocates have negotiated commitments to advance rights and protections in the past. But not this time.
In Utah, the ban was introduced less than four hours before lawmakers had to adjourn for the session, jeopardizing a year of negotiations on alternative requirements framed as a compromise. These requirements would have allowed transgender children to play after obtaining the approval of a government-appointed commission. Cox was on board, but the measure struggled to win the support of social conservatives or the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Utah.
Sue Robbins, who is part of the group’s Transgender Advisory Board, said the last-minute change was a blow. “We were trying to find a middle ground,” he said. “Then all of a sudden, this happened … it was a little overwhelming.”
For a Utah woman, the 13-year-old transgender boy who loves sports was brutal. “I still don’t think they understand what it means and how much they have to beat these kids, even to get to the point of competing,” said the mother, whom The Associated Press agreed not to name to avoid identifying her daughter.
The late change destroyed his faith in the legislative process. “I was horrified … That’s probably where they wanted to be all the time and they just played.”
Much of the discussion since the bill was passed has focused on legal challenges that even supporters say could frustrate the ban on being enacted.
For the Utah Republican majority statehouse, where lawmakers often exalt tax liability, the costs of possible lawsuits are difficult to anticipate and could depend on whether the challenges are intended to block the enactment of the ban or allege discrimination. they are seeking damages, said Republican House Speaker Brad Wilson.
Regardless, lawmakers believe the legislation is worth the potential costs, he added. “One of the things we care about most is competitive and safe women’s sports. And if there’s a cost to the state of Utah to preserve and protect, it’s clear that this is a policy that legislators feel comfortable. “
The sponsor of the legislation, Republican MP Kera Birkeland, said after the approval that she once preferred the compromise committee, but that she eventually came to the opinion of social conservatives that the ban was clearer, especially because the transgender community shuddered at the idea. to subject a small subset of children to review and scrutiny.
The nature of the problem, he said, unfortunately does not lend itself to compromise. “We’ve only gotten a little bit ahead of the cultural war on this issue. I’m not happy about that. I wanted to believe that a lot of progress has been made,” he said of trying to find a middle ground. “I think in this kind of issue, it’s almost impossible to do that.”
Eleven states have enacted bans on transgender athletes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
Legislators in at least 12 states are considering some form of ban on transgender student athletes in youth sports, according to a census by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Add Comment