Female Pa. Republican lawmakers introduce measure to prevent athletes born male from competing in girls’ school sports

A group of female Republican lawmakers on Monday unveiled a bill they said was intended to protect biological girls and women who take part in school sports from competing against athletes who were born male.

The proposal, they said, came in response to President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 executive order that banned discrimination based on gender identity. A spokeswoman for Gov. Tom Wolf said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

The five Republican women — Reps. Valerie Gaydos of Allegheny County, Barbara Gleim of Cumberland County, Stephanie Borowicz of Clinton County, Dawn Keefer of York County and Martina White of Philadelphia — said athletes born male have intrinsic advantages over those born female. Those differences, they said, are a basic reason the landmark federal Title IX legislation in 1972 required girls and boys be given equal opportunities in sports.

Biden’s executive order, they said, would allow athletes who were male at birth but now identify as female to compete in girl’s and women’s sports.

“Allowing biological males to compete in girls and women’s sports destroys fair competition and women’s athletic opportunities,” Gleim said.

Although the bill has not been filed formally and all of its specific components were not immediately available, White said a student deprived of an athletic opportunity or harmed through a violation of the proposed law would be allowed to seek an injunction and sue for costs and damages.

Democratic Rep. Mike Schlossberg of Allentown said that if such a bill passed the Republican-dominated General Assembly, he hoped Wolf would throw it “on the trash heap.”

Schlossberg called it a blatant Republican attempt to stir up its base, as well as an infliction of pain on children whose gender identity would cause them to be affected by the proposal.

Such children, he said, are more prone to suffer from addiction, homelessness and attempts at self-harm, and they are more likely to be victims of violence.

“It is a clear attempt to throw red meat to a rabid base that is clamoring for a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist,” Schlossberg said.

The spokeswoman for Wolf, Lyndsay Kensinger, said, “The governor has been clear: Hate has no place in Pennsylvania, and that includes discrimination.”

She said, “Any legislation designed to deny opportunities to certain children is both disturbing and dangerous. Trans youth should know that they belong, that they are valued, and that their participation in school activities is welcomed. The governor would veto this type of legislation.”