By Sen. Robby Mills: This bill would prohibit biological males from competing in girl’s athletic events at the college and high school level in Kentucky schools. Since 2017, two high school males in Connecticut have competed as women and have taken 15 Connecticut high school track championships away from nine different girls. Previously they ran as males and never won. CeCe Telfers is a biological male ranked 390th in the collegiate men’s 400 meter hurdles. Then in 2019, CeCe competed in the women’s event and won first place.
Track is not the only sport in which boys are competing as girls. As a result, girls are losing opportunities to advance to the next levels of competition where they can compete for scholarships and positions on college and professional teams as well as have associated educational career opportunities that were intended for women when Title IX was enacted.
Advocates say: Girls deserve a level playing field. Every boy that is on the podium takes a medal away from a girl. Having biological males compete against girls is not only unfair to girls but, depending on the sport, can be physically dangerous for girls. This will be the end of women’s sports and the opportunities they provide women.
Opponents say: Gender is not biology. If an athlete identifies as a girl, they are a girl and are entitled to all the opportunities that girls have. Transgender girls have no advantage over cisgender (biological) girls. In fact, they have disadvantages. To insist that they must compete against males is simply transphobic and hateful.
Prospect of Passage: Polling suggests that this is well-supported because of basic fairness, but because of LGBT opposition, it will need calls to pass.
