LEXINGTON, Ky. — As protesters chanted “Let kids play” in the Capitol rotunda, the Kentucky Senate on Wednesday approved a proposed ban on transgender girls competing in girls sports at the middle and high school levels.
Senate Bill 83 would require the Kentucky Board of Education and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to establish that “an athletic activity or sport designated as ‘girls’ shall not be open to members of the male sex.” Any student who “suffers any direct or indirect harm” because of a violation could sue a school district for damages.
The Senate amended the bill Wednesday to exempt elementary school sports. It then voted 27-to-8 to pass the bill and send it over to the House, which is advancing its own similar ban on transgender girls, House Bill 23.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Robby Mills, said children born as boys enjoy certain benefits over children born as girls when it comes to athletics.
“Surgical changes and hormone therapy, regardless of the length of time, does not reduce the advantage that a biological male has over a biological female,” said Mills, R-Henderson. “Boys have athletic advantages even before puberty in cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed, agility and power tests.”
Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, opposed the bill and successfully attached the amendment to exempt elementary schools. Berg said she is the proud parent of a transgender son. She begged her colleagues to show “understanding and grace” toward transgender youths, adding that “to me, this bill is hurtful.”
“As the parent of a transgender child ... you go through a really serious learning curve. And what you learn is that you better learn to protect your child with every ounce of energy you have. Because honest to God, the world is coming after them,” Berg said.
At the same time, the Fairness Campaign, the ACLU of Kentucky and other civil rights groups held a boisterous rally in the Capitol rotunda to protest the similar Senate and House bills. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Democratic lawmakers were among those addressing the rally, which often could be heard inside the Senate chamber.
Bans similar to those that Kentucky is considering already have been struck down by federal courts in Idaho and West Virginia, and a federal judge in Connecticut last year dismissed a lawsuit that sought to prevent transgender girls from competing in high school girls sports, the ACLU said later.
“Senate Bill 83 violates the United States Constitution by violating students’ equal protection and privacy rights and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act by imposing a wholesale ban on transgender girls from participating in athletics consistent with their gender identity,” said ACLU spokesman Samuel Crankshaw.
During the Senate debate Wednesday, critics of the bill said it’s a solution in search of a problem because nobody in Kentucky can cite examples of student-athletes harmed by the inclusion of transgender classmates.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association already has a policy requiring students to participate in sports based on the gender on their birth certificates unless their gender legally has been reassigned, as demonstrated through certified medical records, a driver’s license, a passport or other formal documents.
There doesn’t seem to have been any problems reported under the KHSAA’s policy that merit legislation, said Sen. Denise Harper-Angel, D-Louisville. At a recent Senate committee hearing, Mills, the bill’s sponsor, acknowledged that he could not identify any past problems in Kentucky related to transgender girls in girls sports.
But other senators said existing rules leave still open the possibility of transgender girls entering a sports competition intended only for biological girls. That undermines the purpose of the Title IX protections for girls sports, they said.
Sen. Johnnie Turner, R-Harlan, said he worries for the safety of his granddaughter.
“We call it girls basketball and boys basketball,” Turner said.
“I wouldn’t want my granddaughter, when she was playing in the fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade basketball, to be seriously injured by some boy who was twice her size,” Turner told his Senate colleagues. “And I don’t think anybody in this body does.”
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