The Ohio House of Representatives passed an amendment, known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, which will ban transgender athletes from joining female teams in both high school and college sports.
Many Republicans celebrated the move and argued the amendment will protect the integrity of women’s sports throughout the state.
“Like many of you, I have fought for women’s equality all of my life. And now, I am continuing to fight for it today,” said Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland).
Supporters of the bill argue that the prospect of transgender athletes participating in these sports gives them an unfair advantage, largely due to the differences in biological composition.
“The Save Women’s Sports Act embraces fairness and enables women to be able to achieve their dreams in athletics in our state. Biological males possess many physiological advantages over females, including greater lung capacity, larger hearts, higher red blood cell counts, stronger tendons and ligaments, greater muscle strength, and increased bone density,” Rep. Jenna Powell (R-Arcanum) said when she testified on the amendment in April.
The legislators added the text of the amendment to SB 187, which is a larger piece of legislation that allows college students to profit off their name, image and likeness.
Other outside groups approved of the passage by the House. The Center for Christian Virtue released a statement saying, “It’s common sense, and the Ohio House showed true courage today by sending a message that we value girls, and want to make sure every student, no matter how they identify, can have fair play in Ohio.”
The bill will now head to the Ohio Senate, who will vote on the final version before sending the potential law to Governor Mike DeWine’s desk for final approval.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].