Tonight, in the final hours of the 2022 General Legislative Session, Republicans in the House and Senate passed an atrocious bill to outright ban all transgender girls from participating in school sports in Utah. This is an issue that has been hotly debated in the legislature since last year. Up until tonight, HB 11 Student Eligibility in Interscholastic Activities would have created a commission to decide on a case-by-case basis the participation of transgender athletes. That version of the bill was bad enough, but at the last minute, extremist Republicans Sen. McCay and Rep. Birkeland decided to throw a wrench in it and introduce a substitute applying a blanket ban on transgender athlete participation. The bill passed the Senate and the House, despite bipartisan opposition.
“This underhanded effort on the part of Republicans is disgusting, but not surprising. It is just further proof of their disdain for the people of Utah that they would pass this bill in the dead of night on a Friday, when they think their constituents aren’t paying attention,” said Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Thom DeSirant. “Their bigoted attack on transgender students will do real harm to an already marginalized and at-risk population of Utahns. This bill does no real work on the complicated and sensitive issue at hand, and it’s nothing more than an election-year attempt by Republicans to pander to extremists in their base. It is absolutely shameful.”
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