Both the Idaho House and Senate has now passed a bill forcing male and female students to compete as the gender on their birth certificate in high school athletics:
While we were all wondering how we were going to get by in groups smaller than 10..Idaho’s House of Rep got 70 people in a room to pass HB500..56-13..Idaho is a gov signature away from being 1st state to limit transgender athletes..
— KTVB Brian Holmes (@KTVBBrian) March 17, 2020
Here’s more:
While most gatherings across the nation have ceased in response to coronavirus, the Idaho Senate of 35 people met on Monday and voted to strip trans youth of the right to participate in high school athletics.
Idaho House Bill 500, Also known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Brad Little. It passed overwhelmingly in the House in February. The House, comprised of 70 members, also swiftly approved a Senate amendment to the bill, sparking public outcry over the bill and the size of the gathering in the midst of the pandemic.
The bill bars transgender student athletes from competing on teams as the gender they identify, defaulting to sex assigned at birth. It has been widely criticized by LGBTQ rights advocates.
As they point out, the bill is now headed to the desk of Republican Governor Brad Little. The ACLU is already threatening to sue if Little signs the bill:
BREAKING: The Idaho Senate just passed a bill targeting trans student athletes. This bill could subject any student athlete to invasive screenings.
If @GovernorLittle signs this bill, we will sue.
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 17, 2020
Don’t be surprised if Little doesn’t sign the bill. When asked about this bill in February, he made the comment “I don’t think we ought to be sending signals that we’re intolerant in Idaho. That’s my personal position.”
But on the flip side, he’s continuing to fight a “federal judges’ order for the Idaho Department of Correction to pay for an Idaho inmate’s gender confirmation surgery.”