Let’s talk about Idaho’s House Bill 500, otherwise known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.
Is it backed by science? Sort of. Is it discriminatory? Absolutely.
Idaho recently became the first state to pass a law banning transgender women from playing on a women’s sports team. The bill was passed even though transgender women playing has never reportedly caused an issue in Idaho.
“As we have previously stated, Idaho’s House Bill 500 and resulting law is harmful to transgender student-athletes and conflicts with the NCAA’s core values of inclusivity, respect and the equitable treatment of all individuals,” NCAA said in a statement about the bill.
According to the Center for Suicide Prevention, transgender people are twice as likely to think about committing suicide than other members of the LGBTQA community. A previous article by the Argonaut Editorial Board stated this rate only goes up when a bill opposing trans rights is presented.
HB 500 states “Having separate sex-specific teams furthers efforts to promote sex equality.” But what about equality for the non-cisgender people this bill affects?
“I think the issue is the girl’s right to participate without having to be concerned about who they’re competing with. And that’s why I signed the bill,” Gov. Brad Little said.
From my perspective, this is yet another man making decisions for women based on what he thinks is right – not what the women he’s deciding for actually want.
As the Argonaut Editorial Board pointed out, HB 500 only pertains to transgender women, not transgender men. If the bill was really about fairness, how is this fair? Under the Legislative Findings and Purpose section of the bill, nine of the twelve points listed mention inherent physical differences between genetically male and female bodies. But what about intersex individuals, people born with genetics somewhere between male and female? I can’t help but see this bill as a sexist remark on the ability of women, especially since the bill only pertains to trans women.
The bill argues that because transgender women have “male bodies,” they have an inherent advantage over cisgender women, even if they have been taking testosterone suppression medication for over a year. I don’t want to give Barbara Ehardt any ideas, but if that was their logic, they would have banned transgender men from participating in male sports because they have “female bodies.” If bodies were the problem, the bill would have sided with the public school system and its stance on how distracting “female bodies” are to men. This bill is only looking at what people were born as, not acknowledging their identities.
Many people have rightfully opposed bills like this. Even though there won’t be large crowds at sporting events this fall, we still need to support our trans athletes, because although the NCAA is on our side, the Idaho legislature isn’t.
I recognize I am a cisgender man speaking about this topic, so I invite conversation on this from people with lived experiences different from my own.
Joey Cisneros can be reached at [email protected]