The Arizona Legislature passed two bills addressing transgender issues, which will be sent to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to sign or veto. SB 1138 bans irreversible gender reassignment surgery for those under 18. SB 1165 prohibits males from participating in sports in public schools or at private schools that compete against public schools from playing on teams designated for females.
State Representative Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who co-sponsored SB 1165, testified regarding how she played on girls’ teams in high school but would have never been able to make the men’s teams. “The advantages bestowed by biological male puberty are so big that no amount of training or talent can enable biological female athletes to overcome them,” she said.
SB 1138, sponsored by State Senator Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), passed the State Senate 16-12 and the State House 31-26. It started out as a broader measure, banning all gender transitioning health care, but was narrowed to address only the irreversible aspects.
Meanwhile, SB 1165, sponsored by State Senator Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) with multiple co-sponsors, passed the State Senate 16-13 and the State House 31-24.
Barto told The Arizona Sun Times that SB 1165 would have passed a couple of years ago, but due to COVID-19 the State Senate shut down early so it never received a first reading. She said, “I think the governor will sign the bill. It’s always looked at as anti-woman, but it’s very pro-woman. We’re saving women’s sports.”
She denounced the “name calling and criticism. They ignore the facts and go straight to what is not factual. It’s all about fairness and respecting the differences between the sexes.”
State Rep. Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who also co-sponsored SB 1165, told the Sun Times, “It was astounding to watch the utter hypocrisy of Arizona House Democrats as they opposed these two common sense measures. In the four-hour span of debate, Democrats feigned defense of women’s rights when it came to murdering unborn children, yet mere minutes later those same Democrats argued against women’s rights by demanding that biological males be allowed to dominate women’s interscholastic and collegiate sports.
He added, “With the partisan bipolarism of Democrats in 2022 on full display for the world to see, compounded by the total failure of their policies in action, it is no wonder that the American people are abandoning the Democratic Party in record numbers.”
Left-wing groups fought the bills the entire way. The Arizona ACLU set up a pre-written email for people to send to legislators. The Human Rights Campaign described the bills in a misleading way, as “Senate Bill 1138, which bans some types of medical care for transgender youth, and Senate Bill 1165, which prevents transgender students from participating in school sports.” HRC described the surgery as “medically necessary” for some transgender youth. The organization accused legislators of “seeking to bully transgender youth with politically motivated bills for the sake of discrimination itself.”
The transgender women (men who are transitioning to women) competing in women’s sports has made international headlines recently, as collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas won an individual title at the NCAA Women’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championship. According to the Arizona Interscholastic Association, 17 trans athletes in Arizona have received waivers to play on sports teams of the opposite gender.
The Oklahoma Legislature passed a similar bill banning men from competing in women’s sports on Thursday. The Idaho Legislature attempted similar legislation but it failed to pass the Senate due to some Republicans’ concern about intruding on parental rights.
Republican governors in Utah and Indiana recently vetoed their versions of the sports legislation, but legislators in both states say they intend to override the vetoes.
Idaho and West Virginia passed similar laws in 2020, which have been tied up in litigation.
In Texas, the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion in February stating that gender transitions for minors are child abuse under existing state law. Following that, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to the state’s child welfare agency demanding an investigation of parents who have subjected their children to “abusive gender-transitioning procedures.”
Until recently, the American Psychological Association’s Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology acknowledged that 75 to 95 percent of pre-pubertal children who were distressed by their biological sex eventually outgrew that distress.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, believes the transition-affirming movement is child abuse. “These professionals are using the myth that people are born transgender to justify engaging in massive, uncontrolled, and unconsented experimentation on children who have a psychological condition that would otherwise resolve after puberty in the vast majority of cases,” she said. The American Academy of Pediatrics, which is considered the most left-leaning doctors’ organization of the various types of medical practices, opposed the bills.
A Gallup poll released last year found that 62 percent of Americans oppose transgender athletes playing on opposite-sex teams, while only 34 percent are in favor.
There aren’t many surveys regarding gender reassignment for children, however, one conducted in Michigan in 2020 found that 79 percent of Michigan voters oppose allowing children under the age of 18 who claim to identify as transgendered to undergo sex-change surgeries or hormone treatments. Only 21 percent are in favor, The American Principles Project/SPRY Strategies poll found.
The ACLU and other left-wing groups are expected to file lawsuits after the bills are signed into law, which could put them on hold, possibly leaving them to be finally resolved at the Supreme Court.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at the Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
