The Senate Education Committee on Thursday heard a bill seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing on teams of the sex they identify with.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 140 — introduced by Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer — would require public or private schools that compete against a public school to have their sports teams designated as male, female or coeducational and use biological sex as a determining factor.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the committee, Hughes said allowing transgender athletes to compete as their identified sex violated Title IX protections by discriminating against biological women for team selection, championships and college scholarships.<\/p>\n
Hughes said a number of Alaskans have approached her asking she carry the legislation, known as the Even Playing Field Act.<\/p>\n
“Undeniable evidence and scientific research conclude that the average biological male body is stronger, larger and faster than the average female body even after testosterone suppression treatment,” Hughes said. “Male-bodied athletes have a substantial physical advantage over female athletes in sports, regardless of the beliefs that the male-bodied athlete may hold about their sexuality or gender identity.”<\/p>\n
All of Thursday’s invited testimony spoke in favor of the bill, and the committee meeting ended before lawmakers could put questions to testifiers.<\/p>\n
At the end of the meeting Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, said the proposed legislation was blatantly unconstitutional and that similar bills in other states had either been struck down in court or are in the process of litigation.<\/p>\n
“I just want to be sure that we understand that there is another side to this story,” Begich said.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Empire, Begich said the legislation wouldn’t hold up in court, saying it violated students’ right to privacy.<\/p>\n
“The invasive notion that you would be able to go in and examine a student will be struck down in Alaska court,” Begich said.<\/p>\n
A memo from Legislative Legal Services requested by Begich flagged several potential conflicts in the bill that might violate the state’s constitution in several ways.<\/p>\n
“The Alaska Supreme Court has stated on more than one occasion that the Alaska Constitution affords broader protections than does the federal constitution,” the memo said. “A student will have to reveal the student’s biological sex in order to participate in sports. Facts surrounding a person’s biological sex can be intensely private. As the Alaska Supreme Court has stated, ‘few things (are) more personal than one’s body.’”<\/p>\n
The bill also provides legal grounds for students or schools to sue for damages if they are deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffer direct or indirect damages resulting from a violation of the law.<\/p>\n
In over an hour of testimony, the committee heard from athletes, lawyers and sports professionals who said the physical advantages of biological men should preclude them from competing against biological women. One of the testifiers was professional track athlete Cynthia Monteleone, who said she had competed against male-bodied athletes and won by only tenths of a second, and as a coach has seen girls demoralized when competing against biological males.<\/p>\n