The Tennessee Senate voted 27-6 Monday night to approve a bill that would effectively ban transgender student athletes from participating in middle and high school sports under their gender identity.
The House has not yet scheduled a final vote on the bill.
SB228/HB3, filed by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, and Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, would require transgender athletes in middle and high schools to compete under their sex at birth. The bill includes no exception for transgender athletes receiving gender-affirming care, such as hormone blockers.
Bill advocates argue barring transgender female athletes from participating in sports promotes fairness, but LGBTQ rights scholars and activists deem the science behind the bill misplaced and the legislation discriminatory toward transgender teens.
In Tennessee, there is also no evidence of transgender athlete participation in school sports. But supportive lawmakers say the bill addresses a potential problem.
RELATED:Tennessee’s bill targeting transgender teen athletes clears committees, heads toward final votes
GENTRY ESTES:Tennessee’s transgender sports bill is searching for a problem that doesn’t exist | Estes
“To say it’s not a problem in Tennessee may be true, but it will be a problem in Tennessee probably sooner than we think,” said Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield.
The legislative push in Tennessee mirrors efforts spanning across at least 21 states, according to a Tennessean analysis. Bills in at least six states, including Tennessee, have now passed in at least one legislative chamber.
Bill sponsors share similar talking points and many of the bills include identical clauses linked to language drafted by outside interest groups such as the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom, a well-funded politically active nonprofit that does not disclose its donors.
Outside interests:Tennessee transgender athlete bill echoes nationwide push, mirrors language drafted by conservative group
Biological edge debated
Bill sponsors, such as Hensley, referenced the performance gap between males and females due to their sex differences. While biological males are generally stronger than females, the athletic performance gap — largely affected by testosterone — is not prominent until puberty, according to a 2018 study published in Endocrine Reviews. Hormonal treatments for transgender people have also proved effective in increasing or suppressing testosterone, the study shows.
Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, acknowledged testosterone levels play an important role in athletic performance. Both the International Olympic Committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association allow transgender athletes to compete given that they undergo gender-affirming therapies or take testosterone tests, Briggs said.
But Briggs said it’s only fair to allow transgender athletes to participate with guidelines in place making sure transgender athletes do not have a biological edge. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, he said, does not have them.
“Unless the TSSAA has some sort of guidelines, it’s not fair to (allow) the transgender females to be competing against natural females, particularly if they are not on any sort of testosterone suppression therapy,” he said.
Rick Colbert, general counsel for TSSAA for 35 years, could not be immediately reached for comment Monday night.
In a previous interview, Colbert told The Tennessean the association has never had to deal with the issue of transgender athlete eligibility. But should the issue rise, he said the association would follow the “All 50” model policy developed by the LGBT Sports Foundation, which outlines a process allowing a committee to determine a transgender student’s eligibility to participate.
Roberts said transgender athlete participation is a “problem” across the nation because several states have policies in place allowing transgender athletes to compete under their gender identity.
“For anyone in this chamber to say that this is not a problem or this is not going to be a problem, or we don’t need to deal with it … it is a problem that is emerging with a great deal with steam. ” he said. “To deny that it’s a problem is to deny reality.”
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, voted in favor of the legislation Monday night despite previous reluctance to support similar bills in past sessions. The Senate speaker, who cautioned lawmakers to heed potential federal funding cuts and move gingerly with the transgender athlete bill, showed reticence over the past years about bills critics said would harm LGBTQ rights.
McNally:‘Move with caution’: Lt. Gov. Randy McNally lukewarm to controversial transgender athlete bill
McNally signaled support for the bill last week but acknowledged there is no evidence of transgender athlete participation in school sports in Tennessee. But the bill aims to address a problem that could happen, he said.
“It’s not really a problem yet,” McNally said Thursday. But with policies in place, he said “it’d be easier if there were an issue like this occurring.”
Opponents warn of discrimination, legal battles, economic loss
Democratic lawmakers slammed the legislation Monday night for targeting transgender and intersex children and warned of potential loss of federal funding.
Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, said the bill attacks a hypothetical problem that does not exist and could harm the mental health of transgender children.
“The argument in favor of this legislation is about hypothetical situations that might happen,” she said. “What isn’t hypothetical is the tearful moms of trans kids I spoke to on the phone last week, worried about psychological effects that this bill has on their child, or the pediatricians who have emailed me that this bill will hurt children and cause irreparable damage to them psychologically and physically.”
The bill would create a problem instead of solving one, said Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville.
“In passing this legislation, we’ll actually create a whole host of problems for the state … from the danger of economic harm to tarnishing our reputation, we’ll be endangering the $3.1 billion in Title IX funds that we do receive to support women athletes. And we’ll be setting ourselves up for litigation yet again that we’ll likely lose,” he said. “In passing this, we’re not gonna help a single person.”
Advocacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tennessee Equality Project, have opposed the bill and warned of the unintended consequences the legislation has on the transgender communities.
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU’s Tennessee chapter, said the group is willing to fight the matter in court.
“Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them,” she said in a Monday statement. “The vast majority of transgender students are not elite athletes. They just want to play sports for fun, with friends and classmates, to feel a sense of community and camaraderie, and to learn to respect and work together with coaches and teammates.”
“Supporters of SB228 never produced evidence that there is a need for this legislation,” TEP Executive Director Chris Sanders said. “It never was about sports. It was always about discrimination against transgender students.”
Reach Yue Stella Yu at yyu@tennessean.com or 615-913-0945. Follow her on Twitter at @bystellayu_tnsn.
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