Idaho governor Brad Little signed the controversial House Bill 500 – called the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” by supporters – into law Monday. At the same time, he signed HB 509, which prohibits transgender people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates.
HB 500 bans transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports at the high school and collegiate level in Idaho, making the state the first in the country to pass legislation against transgender students.
The bill applies to ” interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by a public school or any school that is a member of the Idaho high school activities association or a public institution of higher education or any higher education institution that is a member of the national collegiate 6 athletic association (NCAA), national association of intercollegiate athletics (NAIA), or national junior college athletic association.”
It would mandate that teams be designated as based on biological sex – Males, men, or boys; Females, women, or girls; or coed or mixed – and that “sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.”13 (2) Athletic teams or sports designated for females,
“If disputed,” the bills continues, “a student may establish sex by presenting a signed physician’s statement that shall indicate the student’s sex based solely on the student’s internal and external reproductive anatomy; The student’s normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone; and an analysis of the student’s genetic makeup.”
The ACLU of Idaho says both bills are unconstitutional.
- Those who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the female category under the following conditions:
- The athlete has declared that her gender identity is female. The declaration cannot be changed, for sporting purposes, for a minimum of four years.
- The athlete must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition (with the requirement for any longer period to be based on a confidential case-by-case evaluation, considering whether or not 12 months is a sufficient length of time to minimize any advantage in women’s competition).
- The athlete’s total testosterone level in serum must remain below 10 nmol/L throughout the period of desired eligibility to compete in the female category.
- Compliance with these conditions may be monitored by testing. In the event of noncompliance, the athlete’s eligibility for female competition will be suspended for 12 months.
I think a lot of commenters are mixing two distinct issues here. The first is the Idaho bill (only interested in HB 500 for the purposes of this comment). The second is transgender issues in women’s sports generally. The Idaho bill does not seem to be grounded in science. It says “sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.” The male sex appears to be undefined, and establishing this binary distinction implicitly denies the existence of non-binary people, who are recognized by the medical community as existing. The “if disputed…” language is similarly unhelpful. And not just because I think it’s “transphobic” or something. I think different medical professionals would come… Read more »
Reading over the IOC policies now, I don’t think that they do enough to level the playing field for female athletics infiltrated by transgenders. I am no medical expert, but I do know that there are things outside of testosterone levels that give males an inherent advantage over females. The main thing that comes to mind is the skeletal structure, including height. Going through puberty males and females differ dramatically in the chemicals their bodies release that causes them to grow in different ways, and this greatly favors athletes who go through a ‘male’ puberty.
Take someone who is a physical specimen like Manaudou. Do you seriously think that reducing his t levels to 10 nmol/L would bring his performance… Read more »
he could have jailed them too, his voters would support that as well. this is a fairly “harmless” legislation from a red state
Discrimination is a fine thing….when held to moderation!
Articles like these consistently show how many reactionaries are on this sight
Good for Idaho
As the father of female athletes, I find it discouraging that protecting the integrity of their pursuits is considered discrimination.
Does “integrity of their pursuits” mean training without performance-enhancing drugs? Then I would agree…
Ironically the bill is helping female athletes and yet feminists will continue to push against it… what a strange world we live in
The only “feminists” that support a bill like this are terfs.