Bill banning transgender girls from female sports teams headed to Ohio House floor

Ohio moved toward banning transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams Wednesday when a committee approved House Bill 6, the first step in securing a vote by the Republican-controlled state House.

Known as the Save Women's Sports Act, the proposal would ban schools from "knowingly" permitting any student born as a male from "participating on athletic teams or in athletic competitions designated only for female participants."

And it would create a framework for civil lawsuits against a school district and/or organization that regulates sports, like the National Collegiate Athletic Association if a student-athlete believed she was denied opportunities or otherwise harmed by violations of this law.

"All that girls are asking for is a fair shot, and to be given the chance to play and win by the rules in the sports that they love," Rep. Jena Powell, R-Arcanum, said when she introduced HB 6. "That opportunity is being ripped from them by biological males."

But opponents say this bill targets an extremely small group of student-athletes who already face higher rates of harassment and discrimination. And they think its premise that any boy would be better than any girl insults "all female athletes."

"I can name many instances when I’ve coached cisgender female athletes who are faster than their cisgender male peers of the same age," said Mallory Golski, a swim coach and Kaleidoscope Youth Center employee. "I can also tell you that I still often swim in a lane alongside a cisgender man who is exactly one foot taller than me, and I can still kick his butt in practice."

What constitutes an advantage?

Supporters of HB 6 say athletes who are born into male bodies have certain biological advantages that make them, on average, faster than their female counterparts. And they aren't convinced that hormone therapy eliminates that competitive edge.

For example, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study in January 2021 that said elite transgender runners still had a competitive edge after two years of hormone therapy.

"However, this does not account for women with naturally elevated levels of testosterone," according to the study.

And the advantages didn't appear to apply to high school athletes: "In youth and recreational sports, there is such a broad range of ability, training, and development that differences from prior testosterone after 12 months of suppression may not have a meaningful competitive impact and the benefits of inclusion of all athletes should take priority."

Opponents of HB 6 asked Republicans to consider why these "competitive advantages" were singled out when others were not.

"Swimmer Missy Franklin, a woman who is not transgender, had size 13 feet and was 5 foot 11 by age fifteen," said Delia Sosa, a medical student with the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "How would it be fair for her to participate, but not a transgender girl with the same levels of testosterone who is 5 foot 6 andsize 9 feet?"

Wealthy children also have advantages because they can afford better schools, private coaches and training camps, according to an Ohio State University study.

“The idea of sports as a true meritocracy where the best athletes on the field will succeed is largely a myth ...,” co-author James Tompsett told Ohio State News. "Even at equal levels of athletic merit, those students from a more advantaged background are more likely to become college athletes."

What's happening in other states

At least 18 states have enacted laws or issued rules that restrict transgender sports participation, according to a 2022 list compiled by ESPN. And many of those are tangled up in federal court challenges.

One of the reasons cited for this kind of legislation is high school running statistics from Connecticut.

"Nine different girls used to hold the 15 women’s state championship titles," Powell said when she testified for her bill in March. "In 2020, those 15 titles were all held by two different biological males."

Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but critics say that wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison because the interscholastic sports body that governs Connecticut sports doesn't require hormone therapy to compete.

Ohio's High School Athletic Association mandates at least one year of hormone therapy and annual bloodwork to prove testosterone levels have dropped below certain levels. The National Collegiate Athletic Association policy goes a step further, requiring transgender athletes to meet testosterone levels that differ based on the sport. And they must show proof twice a year.

OHSAA has approved 15 transgender girls for female teams since 2015 and three at the high school level out of about 400,000 student-athletes who play.

But Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, a distance runner and junior high cross country coach, disagreed with those rules.

"While pumping hormones into their bodies and reducing their testosterone levels may decrease their athletic performance, the reduction is slight and does not outweigh the strength in their ability to perform at maximum levels," she said.

In her 22 years of coaching, Schmidt said she's never seen a track meet where "the winner of the girls meet ran faster than the winner of the boys meet."

Try, try again

This isn't the first time Powell has tried to pass this legislation. In 2021, she tried and failed to add it to a bill allowing college athletes to profit off their names, images and likeness. In 2022, Powell pushed a version through the Ohio House that the Senate scrapped because it contained a controversial provision requiring genital examinations for students whose sex was questioned.

"I think everyone agrees that language is not needed to accomplish what we want to do with the bill," Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer said at the time.

More:Ohio lawmakers scrap genital exams for transgender athletes, may require birth certificate

Sen. President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, later tried to revive the legislation as part of a deal to overhaul the Ohio Department of Education. His version cut the mandatory examinations and only applied to K-12 teams. Powell voted against it.

In April, she then tried and failed to add to the state budget.

“We are committed to continuing the fight to prevent this from becoming law," Equality Ohio public policy director Maria Bruno said in a statement. "All kids, including transgender and nonbinary youth, deserve the opportunity to participate in school sports to challenge themselves, improve fitness, and be part of a team."

Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.