A proposal to ban transgender students identifying as female from playing girls’ and women’s sports in public South Carolina high schools and colleges is moving through the state House after stalling twice last year.
Members of the House Education and Public Works Committee didn't comment on the bill before they voted 11-2 Thursday to send the proposal to the chamber floor. Another committee later Thursday morning made the bill a priority so it will be debated on the House floor before almost all other bills next week.
The legislation would require athletes to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates.
Lawmakers did spend nearly two hours listening to testimony on and discussing the bill Wednesday, with opponents walking out of the meeting about an hour in. The group SC United for Justice and Equality said the walkout was prompted by the bill's supporters using insults and slurs to demonize transgender people.
“I want lawmakers to know that no one and no thing — not even women’s sports — needs to be saved from transgender people," said Wynston Sanders, a leader with the group, in a statement Thursday. “We are simply trying to live authentic, full lives. There are so many more stories about transgender people than the stories about these bills that try to target us and bring us down.”
Democratic lawmakers raised questions about how the legislation would affect situations where South Carolina teams are set to play out-of-state teams with trans athletes, or which teams intersex students would be allowed to be on.
About a dozen states have already passed similar legislation, and transgender athletes have become an issue in midterm campaigns in states like Pennsylvania. But Republicans aren’t in lockstep, with GOP governors in Indiana and Utah vetoing bans in their states.
Two dozen state lawmakers sponsoring such measures around the country as well as the conservative groups supporting them also struggled to cite local instances to The Associated Press last year where participation of trans girls on girls' sports teams caused problems.
South Carolina high school officials have said they consider each case individually and see no need for a ban, a position also held by elected Republican state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman.
Similar legislation is also headed to the Senate floor this year, though some senators have voiced concerns about lawsuits, especially because the Senate bill includes colleges and private schools.
A different House committee twice rejected a sports ban for transgender students last year.
