Texas Senate panel poised to pass transgender sports bills, though their fate remains uncertain

AUSTIN – A Texas Senate panel appeared ready late Monday or early Tuesday to come up with bills that would require public schools and many college athletes in Texas to compete in sports that match, and not match, the gender shown on their original birth certificate their gender identity.

With House Democrats fleeing the state to block scrutiny of a controversial electoral law, it is unclear that Senate Law 2 and Senate Law 32 will be passed in the current special session and will soon become law.

But since the Senate passed a similar bill in April, Governor Greg Abbott has become a vocal supporter that goes beyond declarations that he would sign the bill. In late May, Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, shocked some Democrats when his leadership team put the earlier bill on the House of Representatives calendar for major states.

Only the Democratic strikes in the House of Representatives over voting bills appear to have prevented their House from referring to the Senate and Lt. Gov. Agreeing with Dan Patrick, who insisted lawmakers must act to save women’s sport.

On Monday, a Senate panel took hours of emotional, contradicting testimony from dozens of members of the public.

Proponents argued that admitting transgender women to women’s teams threatens to become a trend – jeopardizing fairness, denying scholarships to girls, and even causing field or field collisions that cause serious injuries.

Opponents said such concerns are hypothetical rather than real. The legislation is unnecessary, unfairly targets transgender youth and could add to the already high rate of suicide attempts among such youth, they argued.

Senator Charles Perry, the Lubbock Republican author of SB 2 and SB 32, said they offer “protection to women and girls” who risk losing their athletic ambitions if more transgender women compete.

Despite “a politically correct narrative” that transgender women should be allowed on women’s teams, Perry said, “It’s not okay to destroy one’s dreams in favor of the other.”

It was “not unthinkable” that transgender women will soon dominate women’s sports competition because “all it takes to win” ethos that is now permeating high school and college sports will encourage abuse, he said .

“In a short time, women’s sport will be eliminated,” said Perry.

As before, Perry noted that Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, two transgender women, have garnered over a dozen women’s athletics championships in recent years as high school sprinters in Connecticut.

But Maddox Hilgers, a social work graduate who identified herself as “a non-binary transgender person,” dismissed as “ridiculous” suggestions that transgender women might soon dominate girls’ high school sports.

“There just aren’t enough transgender girls for that,” said Hilgers.

Transgender girl Sonny Bryant, 8, appeared on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee with her mother, Rebecca. Both testified against the bills.

“Let me play, let me run, get dirty,” Sonny pleaded.

Austin youth medicine specialist Dr. Celia Neavel, speaking for the Texas Pediatric Society, opposed the legislation.

“Forcing transgender children to play in teams that match their gender assignment at birth, rather than the gender they affirm, undermines their ability to feel part of the community,” she said.

More than half of transgender children have had suicidal thoughts and a third have attempted suicide, Neavel testified.

Jennifer Yoder, who said she ran luxury goods stores in central Texas, was one of several defenders of the law who blamed Perry for calling transgender women “biological men”.

“This law is hideous, inhumane, and bad business for Texas,” said Yoder.

Perry replied, “I apologize for any nomenclature problems. … It’s hard to keep up with the name changes. “

Still, Perry refuted suggestions that he was pursuing an imaginary problem with a solution that could lead to an economic boycott by the state.

He asked Barbara Ehardt, the Idaho GOP state representative, if her state, one of nine, has put restrictions on transgender youth in sports, whether it was suffering economically.

“People want to be in states that support our girls and women and stand up for traditional values,” said Ehardt, main sponsor of her state law. “Idaho is doing very well, Senator.”

Committee chair Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, challenged witnesses who said Texan lawmakers should wait and investigate the issue.

“One testified that we have no problem until we have stolen championships from the females who were born female,” said Kolkhorst. “What if it happens?”

Regarding how weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will be the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics after being selected by New Zealand for the women’s event at the Tokyo Games, Kolkhorst said, “The Olympics are going to be interesting be visible.”

Perry noted that Franklin Pierce University’s track star and transgender woman CeCe Telfer won the 2019 Women’s 400m Hurdles Division II championship in Kingsville, Texas

“It really happens,” he said. “It has grown into a concern.”

SB 2 would apply to state colleges and universities as well as public schools, while SB 32 would only affect athletes on K-12 campuses.

At 6 p.m. Kolkhorst said that more than 30 witnesses who had registered as witnesses had not yet testified.

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