Utah Lawmakers Just Stepped Up To Protect Your Daughters When The Governor Wouldn’t!

Uncategorized

Governor Spencer Cox’s veto has been overridden by the Utah State Legislature a Republican-supermajority in the state. The said bill will bar young males and transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports.  

The House voted 56-18 which favors the override and the Senate voted 21-8.

Reports said that the Democrats in the House and Senate were each joined by Republican lawmakers, that two of them opposed the said bill.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune report, “The bill, HB11, originally intended to create a commission charged with evaluating whether a transgender athlete could participate in a school sport — a compromise that avoided an outright ban. But during final hours of the legislative session earlier this month, the Legislature passed a last-minute amendment to the bill that banned transgender girls from participating in female school sports.”

“I truly believe we’re here to uphold Title IX, to preserve the integrity of women’s sports and to do so in a way unlike other states,” the bill’s sponsor state Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, said during the override session.

Birkeland defended the bill, adding that if the legislation were to pass, transgender athletes would still be allowed to participate in co-ed sports.

During the rally, Birkeland said ahead of the vote, “I often get asked the question of why so rushed. Why this process? Well, it’s simple. For almost two years, we tried to come up with other options.”

She added, “We could not get a compromise. So anyone who tells you there was a compromise. Why did you switch from the compromise? There was never a compromise. … You cannot compromise women’s liberties.”

The letter made by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox has made the veto to override the vote. Cox wrote penned a heartfelt letter to legislators in which he said that he’d been moved by data showing that including transgender youth in sports could reduce suicide rates within the group.

“I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly,” Cox wrote in a letter.

Before the override vote, Republicans who supported the override lawmakers held a rally on the Capitol where they were met with protests.

The Tribute also added, “The bill includes a clause that if a lawsuit over the ban is taken to a Utah court and is found to be unconstitutional, the commission will take effect. Senate President Stuart Adams said litigation over the bill is expected.”

“The Legislature also proposed and passed a bill that would indemnify high schools over legal costs if they’re sued over the legislation, addressing concerns that the ban would result in a costly legal battle at the expense of the Utah High School Activities Association, which represents nearly 160 high schools,” the report added.

The report also explained, “that bill, HB3001, would appropriate a one-time $500,000 from the state’s General Fund for schools or local education agencies to cover legal costs.”

A lawsuit action was also announced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah

In a statement, ACLU said, “We are deeply disappointed and saddened at today’s votes by the Utah Legislature to discriminate against transgender youth to exclude them from participating fully on sports teams.”

The statement added, “Litigation to stop H.B. 11 from taking effect is now both necessary and inevitable to ensure Constitutional promises of equal protection to all Utahns.”

Sources: The Gateway Pundit, SLTRIB, CBS News, NBC News, The New York Times,

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *