Gov. Andy Besher vetoed Senate Bill 83, the Justice Act in Women’s Sports, last week, saying at the time that it “most likely violates” the U.S. Constitution and that there is no need for such a ban in the British Commonwealth.
But on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Kentucky legislature voted overwhelmingly along party lines to bypass the governor and pass the ban.
Kentucky is the second state this year to introduce such a ban by lifting vetoes by lawmakers. The state joins Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah in introducing similar legislation in books in 2022.
The debate over the inclusion of transgender athletes, especially women and girls, has become a political wave, especially among conservatives.
Proponents of such measures argue that transgender women and girls have physical advantages over cisgender women and girls in sports. But a 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine, which reviewed several related studies, found “no direct or consecutive research” to suggest that transgender people have an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say such legislation adds to the discrimination faced by transgender people, especially transgender young people.
Kentucky law requires public and private schools with inter-school athletics run by the state council to “designate all athletic teams, activities, and sports for students” in grades six through 12 as “boys,” “students,” or “girls.”
“Sports or sports defined as ‘girls’ for sixth (6) to twelfth (12) grade students are not open to males,” the law said. The law says that “sex” will be based on the student’s “biological sex, as stated in the original, unedited student birth certificate issued at the time of birth” or an affidavit “establishing the student’s biological sex at the time of birth.” , which is signed by a student medical specialist who conducts an annual medical examination for the student.
While sex is a category that refers generally to physiology, a person’s gender is an innate sense of identity. Factors that are included in the sex determination listed in the birth certificate can include anatomy, genetics, and hormones, and there are wide natural variations in each of these categories. For this reason, critics say the language of “biological sex” used in this legislation is too simplistic and misleading.
The law also prohibits similar public and private colleges in Kentucky that are “members of a national intercollegiate athletics association.”
The NCAA opposed such bans, saying last April that it was closely monitoring them to ensure that NCAA championships could be held “in ways that are friendly and respectful to all participants.”
LGBTQ advocates, who have limited legal success in fighting such bans, quickly condemned Kentucky’s new law, with the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth, saying the legislation would harm an already marginalized community.
“Governor Beshear was the third governor this year to defend the dignity of transgender and non-binary youth and vetoed legislators’ attempts to write them off. As these young people continue to face relentless political attacks, the Kentucky legislature has voted to repeal this act of courage and compassion, pushing these marginalized youths even further, “said Sam Ames, the group’s director of advocacy and government affairs. statement.
Kentucky lawmakers have also ignored a veto on Senate Bill 1, which contains elements of an “anti-critical racial theory” measure that Basher says is “trying to control classroom discussions on topics such as race.” Although the law does not implicitly use the term critical racial theory, the language of the bill shares similarities with other measures passed in Republican-controlled states.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Amanda Musa contributed to this report.
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