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Updated: January 25, 2022 @ 7:35 pm
State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whitestown, speaks Monday in the House Education Committee in favor of her legislation to prohibit any child assigned male at birth from participating in any elementary or high school athletic competition designated as a “girls” or “female” sport.
Kit Malone, advocacy strategist at the Indiana ACLU, tells the House Education Committee Monday that House Bill 1041 “seeks to solve a problem where none exists and demonizes trans girls unnecessarily.”
Opponents of a Republican-backed bill that would ban transgender girls from participating in school sports that match their gender identity, gather in the Indiana House balcony Monday during a House Education Committee hearing at the Statehouse.
State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whitestown, speaks Monday in the House Education Committee in favor of her legislation to prohibit any child assigned male at birth from participating in any elementary or high school athletic competition designated as a “girls” or “female” sport.
Kit Malone, advocacy strategist at the Indiana ACLU, tells the House Education Committee Monday that House Bill 1041 “seeks to solve a problem where none exists and demonizes trans girls unnecessarily.”
Opponents of a Republican-backed bill that would ban transgender girls from participating in school sports that match their gender identity, gather in the Indiana House balcony Monday during a House Education Committee hearing at the Statehouse.
Transgender children are the latest group to be targeted in what some organizations see as an ongoing effort by the Republican-controlled General Assembly to classify LGBTQ Hoosiers as second-class citizens.
On Monday, the House Education Committee voted 8-4 to prohibit children assigned male at birth from participating in any elementary or high school athletic competition designated as a “girls” or “female” sport — no matter the child’s gender identity or physical characteristics.
State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whitestown, the sponsor of House Bill 1041, acknowledged there isn’t a surge of trans girls displacing any of the 63,410 other girls who participate in high school athletics in Indiana.
But she said the prospect that even one “biological female” might be cut from a sports team by a more qualified athlete whose birth certificate contains the word “male” is wholly unacceptable and must be stopped immediately.
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“When you have biological males that are stronger, faster, quicker beginning to play against biological females, then, sooner or later, the biological females will not make the team. They won’t have the same opportunities. I believe that’s the threat,” Davis said. “Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if your granddaughter didn’t get to play?”
The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) already prohibits trans girls from participating on girls’ sports teams unless the child has undergone sex-change surgery and has a muscle mass and bone density equivalent to other girls of the same age — a policy that effectively prevents nearly all trans girls from participating in high school athletics in Indiana.
Davis’ legislation would take that policy one step further by outright banning trans girls from all youth sports.
At the same time, girls and trans boys still would be permitted to play on boys’ sports teams.
Notably, the legislation was revised in committee to remove a prohibition on Indiana trans women competing at the collegiate level.
The General Assembly tends to tiptoe around college athletics issues to avoid potentially offending the NCAA, which is headquartered in Indianapolis and routinely helps bring tens of thousands of out-of-state fans to its national championship events hosted in Indiana’s capital city.
That deletion dismayed representatives of Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an organization designated as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center based in part on ADF’s efforts to enact anti-LGBTQ statutes in states across the country.
“The attorney general supports this legislation, although I will say that adding back in post-secondary education institutions makes the bill stronger,” said Corrine Youngs, Rokita’s policy director and legislative counsel.
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Meanwhile, dozens of Hoosiers opposing the legislation pleaded with the Indiana House panel, led by state Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, to avoid marginalizing and bullying trans children, who studies show already are at significantly greater risk of self-harm and suicide.
Kit Malone, advocacy strategist at the Indiana ACLU, said trans Hoosiers like her have been a part of Indiana for as long as there’s been an Indiana, and Indiana still is standing.
“This bill seeks to solve a problem where none exists and demonizes trans girls unnecessarily,” Malone said. “There is no place in Indiana where trans girls have taken over girls’ sports teams.”
Katie Blair, ACLU director of advocacy and public policy, said all Indiana is going to get out of this legislation is a costly federal lawsuit that based on past gender discrimination rulings by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state is all but certain to lose.
“The ACLU of Indiana is prepared to fight this legislation using every tool at our disposal, including litigation,” Blair said.
State Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, attempted to replace the proposal with a directive that each local school corporation develop an athletic participation policy that promotes the health and safety of participants, mental and emotional health of all students, participation, inclusion, competitive equity and academic success.
His plan was rejected by the eight other Republicans on the panel, leading Clere to join the three Democratic committee members in opposition to the underlying measure.
The legislation next will be eligible for revision by the full House as soon as Tuesday, and a House vote on potentially advancing it to the Republican-controlled Senate could come Wednesday.
In prior years, corporate opposition or national embarrassment has prompted Hoosier Republicans to reconsider or scuttle similar anti-LGBTQ proposals before they took effect, including the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act that widely was seen as a license to discriminate against LGBTQ Hoosiers, and various “bathroom bills” to require trans Hoosiers only use a bathroom associated with their birth gender regardless of their gender identity.
Indiana is rated in the lowest category on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2021 State Equality Index in large part because state law does not prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in most circumstances, including employment, housing and access to public accommodations.
In fact, Hoosier GOP lawmakers only approved legislation providing an enhanced penalty for bias-motivated crimes in 2019 so long as Senate Bill 198 omitted the explicit use of “sexual orientation and gender identity” as types of bias eligible for the enhancement.
State Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond
1st Senate District
Represents: Hammond (south side), Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville
Experience: State senator 1978-95, 1998-present; retired banker
Committees: Homeland Security and Transportation; Insurance and Financial Institutions; Local Government (ranking member); Veterans Affairs and the Military
State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago
2nd Senate District
Represents: Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, Gary (west side), Griffith, Hobart, Merrillville
Experience: State senator since 2008, previously served 1994-98; attorney
Committees: Commerce and Technology; Insurance and Financial Institutions (ranking member); Judiciary (ranking member); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Utilities (ranking member)
State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary
3rd Senate District
Represents: Gary, Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Merrillville, Crown Point
Experience: State senator since 2016; community relations manager
Committees: Appropriations (ranking member); Education and Career Development; Health and Provider Services; Joint Rules; Rules and Legislative Procedure
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton
4th Senate District
Represents: Ogden Dunes, Portage, Chesterton, South Haven, Burns Harbor, Beverly Shores, Michigan City, Westville
Experience: State senator since 2021; attorney
Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law (ranking member); Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Pensions and Labor; Public Policy
State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso
5th Senate District
Represents: Valparaiso, Hebron, Kouts, Jasper County
Experience: State senator since 2007; attorney
Committees: Appropriations; Ethics; Health and Provider Services (chairman); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy
State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell
6th Senate District
Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Crown Point, Winfield, Lowell, Newton County
Experience: State senator since 2014, state representative 2012-14; small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Tax and Fiscal Policy
State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
8th Senate District
Represents: LaPorte County
Experience: State senator since 2016; consultant
Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law; Insurance and Financial Institutions; Judiciary; Local Government
State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond
1st House District
Represents: Hammond, Whiting
Experience: State representative since 2018; retired Cook County, Ill., probation officer
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Family, Children and Human Affairs; Natural Resources
State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago
2nd House District
Represents: East Chicago, Gary (west side)
Experience: State representative since 2016; small business owner
Committees: Government and Regulatory Reform; Roads and Transportation; Ways and Means
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary
3rd House District
Represents: Gary (downtown and east side), Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart
Experience: State representative since 2018; attorney
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Courts and Criminal Code (ranking member); Government and Regulatory Reform
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso
4th House District
Represents: Valparaiso
Experience: State representative since 2006; aviation safety consultant
Committees: Elections and Apportionment; Roads and Transportation; Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications (chairman)
State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City
9th House District
Represents: Michigan City, Chesterton, Beverly Shores, Long Beach, Westville
Experience: State representative since 2018; retired small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Natural Resources (ranking member)
State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage
10th House District
Represents: Portage, Chesterton, Ogden Dunes, Burns Harbor, South Haven
Experience: State representative since 2008; financial solutions associate
Committees: Employment, Labor and Pensions; Roads and Transportation (ranking member); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron
11th House District
Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Lowell, Schneider, Hebron, Kouts
Experience: State representative since 2014; farmer, former state environmental regulator
Committees: Agriculture and Rural Development (vice chairman); Courts and Criminal Code; Environmental Affairs
State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster
12th House District
Represents: Munster, Hammond (south side), Highland, Griffith
Experience: State representative since 2020; small businessman
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Employment, Labor and Pensions; Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary
14th House District
Represents: Gary (south side), Merrillville
Experience: State representative since 1990; education professor at Indiana University Northwest
Committees: Education (ranking member); Judiciary; Local Government
State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville
15th House District
Represents: Dyer, Schererville, St. John, Griffith
Experience: State representative 2012-18, reelected 2020; small business owner
Committees: Environmental Affairs; Ways and Means
State Rep. Douglas Gutwein, R-Francesville
16th House District
Represents: Newton, Jasper counties
Experience: State representative since 2008; small business owner
Committees: Agriculture and Rural Development; Environmental Affairs (vice chairman); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point
19th House District
Represents: Crown Point, Merrillville, Winfield, Lakes of the Four Seasons, Hobart
Experience: State representative 2014-2018, reelected 2020; small business owner
Committees: Family, Children and Human Affairs; Public Health (vice chairwoman); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety
State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie
20th House District
Represents: LaPorte County
Experience: State representative since 2016; small business owner
Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Roads and Transportation (chairman)
Vacant following Jan. 11 resignation of state Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond
1st Senate District
Represents: Hammond (south side), Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville
This article originally ran on nwitimes.com.
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