JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri House on Thursday passed two separate bills that would bar transgender students from competing on sports teams that match the gender they identify with.
The transgender language was tacked on to two unrelated bills by Missouri Republicans earlier this month, a tactic used to push the legislation to the Senate as the session enters its final two weeks.
One measure would allow voters to decide whether their school districts can ban transgender girls from K-12 sports. It was added to a bill that would change how Missouri runs its elections.
Another bill, initially related to public school transportation, now also requires student athletes to compete only on teams that match the sex listed on their birth certificate.
The pair of bills is the latest attempt by Republican legislators to bar transgender women in sports, following a nationwide trend of legislation that critics have said targets vulnerable groups for political gain.
Separately on Thursday, the Missouri Senate was debating the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would prohibit anyone assigned male at birth from participating in girls or women’s sports.
Both amendments added by House Republicans have sparked hours-long floor arguments, illustrating a divide seen in statehouses and used in political advertisements across the country. Political experts say the proposals seek to find a “wedge issue” — similar to gay marriage — that activates a political base.
Supporters say the legislation would protect girls sports teams from competing with transgender girls, who they argue have a biological advantage in athletics.
“This isn’t about hate. This is about fairness,” Rocheport Republican Chuck Basye, sponsor of one of the amendments, said on the House floor earlier this month. “It is proven that males are biologically superior to females.”
Opponents, however, point out that Missouri public schools have largely not had issues with transgender children playing on youth sports teams — only two transgender girls have played on girls teams in the last decade.
The bills, opponents say, target transgender kids to promote conservative rhetoric during an election season.
Several Democratic House members told The Star this week they were disappointed that Republican House leadership would amend previously non-controversial bills with language targeting transgender people.
“They’re hijacking good, bipartisan bills and completely replacing them with other things and then adding super controversial stuff like trans issues,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield. “We could be doing some serious investment and really good stuff in our state and, instead, we’re barely passing anything and having these really contentious fights that last hours and hours on the floor when we’re also being told that the Senate isn’t going to take any of this up.”
Ian Mackey, a St. Louis Democrat whose impassioned speech against one of the bills last week caught national attention, said the amendments targeting transgender student athletes stem from House leadership, namely Speaker Rob Vescovo, an Arnold Republican.
“It’s very clearly coming from Rob,” he said. “I am a little bit surprised by the brazen nature of Rob, although I really shouldn’t be because that’s how he is. I know a lot of his members are. A lot of the people who told me it wasn’t going to pass or wasn’t going to be a big deal or wasn’t going to be a priority and now they realize they were wrong.”
Vescovo did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
During the debate over the school transportation bill earlier this week, Shamed Dogan, a Ballwin Republican, offered an amendment that would have prevented public school districts from discriminating “against a current or prospective employee based on such current or prospective employee’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Dogan’s amendment was a version of the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA), a bill that aims to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights Act. Missouri has failed to pass MONA since it was originally introduced in 1998.
The GOP-controlled House voted down Dogan’s amendment 60-77 and ultimately added the transgender amendment on a vote of 95 to 46.
Peggy McGaugh, a Carrollton Republican who sponsored the original elections bill, told The Star on Wednesday she was unaware language targeting transgender people was going to be added to her bill until it was proposed on the floor this week.
“I feel like it should have been perhaps discussed in advance so that I could have known rather than have been surprised,” she said. “Because … I didn’t get to talk about elections. And that’s, that’s my expertise … I’m just trying to work with leadership. If they’re trying to get it on many other bills, I think there’s probably another one that it might be more fitting.”
McGaugh said she doesn’t view the push to pass transgender legislation as politically motivated. If a standalone bill related to transgender people in sports came to the floor, she said she doesn’t know how she would vote.
“I would consider, you know, both sides,” she said. “I have three granddaughters. They’re in sports. Their mom was an All-American softball player, and I, I’m going to have to, you know, search my heart on … where my vote will be.”
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