Ohio House Passes Creepy Trans Athlete Ban

Pride 2022 is starting off with a reminder of why Pride is still necessary. The rights of transgender athletes to compete in school sports have been highly debated in recent years. On June 1, 2022, the Ohio House passed a bill that could require student-athletes suspected of being trans to undergo several examinations, including a genital examination.

The bill, titled, Save Women’s Sports Act, was created to prevent trans women and girls from participating in school athletics. The current guidelines for the Ohio High School Athletics Association state that trans women and girls must have completed a year of hormone therapy and/or demonstrate that they do not possess a physical advantage over cisgender women of the same age group.

This new law would prevent trans women and girls from competing entirely. Furthermore, an athlete who is suspected of being a trans athlete would be required to undergo internal and external genital examination, as well as have her testosterone levels and genetic makeup tested. Additionally, there seem to be no requirements to accuse a student of being trans and require them to undergo these invasive procedures.

The bill seems all the more ridiculous when one considers that according to both OSHAA and Equality Ohio, since allowing trans athletes to compete in school athletics, there has never been more than one transgender girl participating in sports in a given year.

As state representative, Dr. Beth Liston says, “There are not scores of girls’ dreams being crushed, there is one child trying to play on their high school sports team. This is a made-up controversy, and this amendment is state-sanctioned bullying against one child.”

In addition, the bill was not originally scheduled to go before legislators when it did; however, its content was added to the revision of Ohio’s Teacher Residency Program at the last minute.

Maria Bruno, legislative policy director for Equality Ohio, says, “Having this third bill now slipped into an unrelated bill at the last moment is just such an additional slap in the face to our entire community. I know that there are a lot of folks in the LGBTQ community who are sitting there asking themselves, ‘What did I do to them? Because they keep coming after me,’ and I can’t blame them for having that perspective. But the answer is nothing, just existing.”

Ultimately the bill is both disturbing and frustrating. It’s an attempt by Ohio lawmakers to be seen as solving the “problem” of trans people in schools by making up a false issue, and ironically, not only does this bill unfairly hurt trans girls who just want to play sports, this bill has the possibility of endangering the very girls they are claiming to protect.