Tag: restricting

House Republicans pass bill restricting transgender athletes from women’s sports

[ad_1]

During debate over the bill on Wednesday, several GOP lawmakers argued the bill was necessary because of the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule on athletics eligibility that would allow transgender girls to play sports with some limitations. Democrats pushed back by invoking Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in their defense of transgender women and girls. Cox, a Republican, vetoed a similar sports ban in the state and acknowledged several challenges transgender students face.
The bill has no chance of becoming law as it is likely to stall in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Joe Biden has already announced that he would veto the bill if it were to reach his desk.
Several lawmakers did not vote on the bill, including 10 Democrats and 3 Republicans.
Amendments: Lawmakers passed by voice vote an amendment from Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) that would clarify that the term “athletic programs and activities” in the bill includes any activities where you have to participate on a team.
Additionally, Republicans shored up enough votes to add an amendment from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) that would direct the Government Accountability Office to lead a study on “the adverse psychological, developmental, participatory and sociological results to girls” from allowing transgender girls to play sports. GAO would also investigate “hostile environment creation, sexual assault and sexual harassment” from a decision to allow transgender students to play on girls sports teams.
“Republicans are following the science,” Mace said on the floor. “We are not confused about the differences between biological men and biological women. And as a woman who is pro LGBTQ, I don’t care how you dress, I don’t care what pronoun you take, I don’t care if you change your gender, but we ought to protect biological women and girls and their athletics and their achievements.”
Reaction: Several Democratic and civil rights groups supporting transgender students slammed the bill’s passage as a political attack under the guise of protecting women’s sports.
“We will not let anti-LGBTQI+ Republicans — who have refused to work with us on addressing real gender equity issues— use ‘protecting women’ as an excuse to attack trans youth,” said Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Lois Frankel in a statement. “When my Republican colleagues want to join with us to address the actual pressing issues impacting girls’ and women’s sports, I stand ready to work with them.”

The Human Rights Campaign said 40 athletes, including Megan Rapinoe, CeCe Telfer and Chris Mosier, signed a letter this month that rebuked a federal anti-transgender sports ban. HRC President Kelley Robinson in a statement said because the bill has no chance of becoming law, “this is purely a waste of time at the expense of an already marginalized population.”
“Rather than focus their energy on doing literally anything to improve the lives of children, House Republicans have prioritized attacking transgender youth purely as a political ploy,” Robinson said.
Conservative groups and cisgender women athletes they represent lauded the bill’s passage saying it reaffirms the promise of equal opportunity for women in Title IX.
“I want to ensure no other girl experiences the emotional pain and lost opportunities I experienced in high school,” said Selina Soule, a former high school track and field athlete whose challenge against a Connecticut policy on transgender athletes will be heard by the full 2nd Circuit, in a statement. “There are clear biological differences between men and women and I experienced that firsthand, which is why I’m very grateful for the U.S. House passing this bill.”
[ad_2]
#House #Republicans #pass #bill #restricting #transgender #athletes #womens #sports
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 20, 2023
White House threatens to veto GOP bills reversing D.C. police reforms, restricting transgender athletes

[ad_1]
The bill “targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,” the White House’s Office of Management and Budget wrote. “Politicians should not dictate a one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove kids from their teams.”
The statement notes that local schools, coaches and athletic associations are already working on participation rules for transgender children. A national ban would disrupt that more nuanced process, it said.
The threats come ahead of House Republicans’ plan to bring the two proposals to the floor as early as this week in their latest bid to advance agenda items that force congressional Democrats into politically tough votes.
House Democrats had sought strongly worded veto threats from the administration, particularly when it came to the transgender sports bill, several Hill aides said.
Democrats are also trying to avoid a repeat of the confusion over Biden’s position on GOP-led bills that prompted many lawmakers to vote against an earlier policing reform rollback in February — only to see Biden decide to support the measure weeks later.
Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
#White #House #threatens #veto #GOP #bills #reversing #D.C #police #reforms #restricting #transgender #athletes
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 17, 2023
Florida House passes parental rights bill restricting pronouns in schools

[ad_1]

With the 77-35 vote that saw House Democrats in opposition, the legislation is on the cusp of passing the Legislature but is awaiting a final committee hearing in the Senate. Two Republicans — State Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera (R-Coral Gables) and Rep. Will Robinson (R-Bradenton) — crossed party lines and voted against the bill.
“For those who think our schools should be some sort of social justice experiment, I challenge you this: I don’t agree with any of it, but when 100 percent of our children are proficient in reading, and 100 percent of our children are proficient in math, then there is time for all of this silliness,” said state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay). “You want to know what hurts children? It’s the fact that they can’t read, it’s the fact that they can’t do math.”
The bill, FL HB1069 (23R), would broaden the state’s prohibition on teaching about sexual identity and gender orientation from kindergarten through third grade to pre-K through eighth grade. This was a key piece in the Parental Rights in Education bill, known nationally as “Don’t Say Gay,” that was one of the more controversial policies passed by state lawmakers in 2022.
It also targets how school staff and students can use pronouns on K-12 campuses. Specifically, the legislation stipulates that school employees can’t ask students for their preferred pronouns and restricts school staff from sharing their pronouns with students if they “do not correspond” with their sex. Under the bill, it would be “false to ascribe” a person with a pronoun that “does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
As lawmakers voted on the bill, scores of LGBTQ advocates protested outside the House chamber, chanting in opposition of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who supports the parental rights expansions, and Republicans who passed it.
Most Florida Democrats have joined them in fighting the legislation, arguing the policies equate to sex discrimination and are disrespectful to LGBTQ students and families. They contend that the bill disregards the rights of parents who support their children being LGBTQ for the sake of others.
“In this body, our duty to our constituents is to make sure that every single constituent is seen and heard in our legislation,” said state Rep. Ashley Gantt (D-Miami). “And this bill does nothing but tell certain parts of our community in Florida that they don’t exist.”
Republican legislators, who hold a supermajority, maintain that expanding the parental rights law is necessary to ensure the state’s youngest students learn about adult topics like sexual orientation and gender identity from their parents instead of at school. Similar to last year when the parental rights bill was introduced, conservatives say the controversy over the proposal is a “manufactured narrative” and criticize advocacy groups and some school districts for politicizing the issue.

The legislation tackles an issue central to the parental rights polices lawmakers approved in 2022, which was inspired by a case in Leon County where parents claim that school officials helped their child transition to a different gender without informing them.
“I’m very concerned when I hear this bill being correlated with another bill, the Parental Rights in Education bill,” said state Rep. Fabián Basabe (R-Miami Beach). “And we’re still calling it the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill when I know we’ve all spoken … on how much work has been put into that bill to change any words that may be interpreted as targeting.”
HB 1069 also adds to legislation passed by Republicans last year to increase transparency about what books are available to students.
The bill aims to expand Florida law to require that books facing objections for being pornographic, harmful to minors, or describe or depict sexual activity must be pulled within five days and remain out of circulation for the duration of the challenge.
It also expands school board jurisdiction to classroom libraries. The bill would allow a parent who disagrees with a district’s ruling on a book challenge to appeal the state education commissioner to appoint a special magistrate to hear the dispute.
This comes as DeSantis, along with other Florida conservatives, seek to remove books with graphic content from schools, taking aim at specific titles such as “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, which depicts sex acts. Another measure in the bill stipulates that the Florida Department of Education must approve all materials for sex education classes, breaking from current policy of having local school boards pass them every year.
Democrats argue that the bill is too vague and could lead to parents challenging a large number of books that would then be kept off the shelves. They pointed to challenges to media that have played out across the state such as the Ruby Bridges movie being called out by a parent in Pinellas County, where it remains unavailable to other students in the district.
“This bill has given a ticket for racist, homophobic people — that this chamber does not support – to pull books that matter to our children,” said state Rep. Robin Bartleman (D-Weston).
The Senate parental rights bill, FL SB1320 (23R), is slated for a second and final hearing before the chamber’s Fiscal Policy committee, although no date has been set as of yet.
[ad_2]
#Florida #House #passes #parental #rights #bill #restricting #pronouns #schools
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 1, 2023