PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania Senate is once again considering a bill that would prevent transgender females from playing girls’ or women’s sports at public schools, universities and colleges.
The legislation is the same version that passed the state Senate last summer, but that bill was never taken up in the state House. The latest version advanced out of the Senate Education Committee 7-4 on a party-line vote.
Republican co-sponsor Judy Ward said the bill prevents males from playing female sports, with gender defined in the bill as anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.
“Allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports threatens to undo the progress we’ve witnessed since the enactment of Title IX,” she said.
“The legislation defines sex as a person’s immutable characteristics of the reproductive system that define the individual as male or female as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last February banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, but Pennsylvania Senate Republicans say protections need to be enshrined in law.
Democrat Lindsay Williams asked why, at a time when Pennsylvanians are trying to figure out how to make ends meet, Republicans are considering this legislation for the seventh time.
“Kids just want to be kids,” she said. “Unlike some in this building, they are not obsessed with their teammates’ genitalia. I want us to stop bullying kids for political gain.”
The Women’s Law Project opposes the bill, saying it “fails to address enforcement, which could result in invasive physical exams and inspections of children’s bodies.”
