LEXINGTON, Ky. — A controversial Republican Senate bill prohibiting transgender girls from competing in girls sports at the post-secondary, middle and high school levels was approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives Thursday.
Senate Bill 83, approved with a 70-23 vote, requires the Kentucky Board of Education and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to establish that an athletic activity or sport designated as “girls” shall not be open to members of the male sex.
Under the bill, the sex of the student shall be determined by the biological sex indicated on the student’s birth certificate issued at the time of birth or adoption, Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, the bill’s sponsor, has said.
State Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, said in a House floor speech in favor of the bill Thursday that it lets student athletes play in a competitive and fair environment.
The bill now goes back to the Senate for concurrence.
State Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, opposed the bill on the House floor.
“We are not talking about elite athletics,” said Willner. “We are talking about Kentucky kids.”
State Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, in a floor speech discussed families who say their children feel trapped. She said the bill was a “bullying” bill that would do harm.
Opponents said lawmakers are legislating a problem that doesn’t exist in Kentucky. The Kentucky Youth Law Project, a non-profit, is among those groups opposing the bill.
The legislation will “serve to increase the marginalization already experienced by transgender girls, pose harm to organizations that are supportive of trans rights, and cause pain to cisgender girls who may have this law applied to them punitively,” a statement from the group said earlier this week.
Keith Elston, the group’s legal director, said high school is hard enough for transgender students, who often face bullying, harassment, and mistreatment because of their gender identity.
“No student would pretend to be transgender just to join a particular sports team,” Elston said. “And no transgender student should be singled out for further bullying and discrimination, but that is exactly what this law, if enacted, would do.”
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