After a record number of bills targeting transgender youth were introduced in 2021, Republican lawmakers are already preparing for the next wave of attacks.
While Kentucky’s legislative session wrapped for the year in March, Kentucky State Representative Ryan Dotson (D-73rd District) has already pre-filed a bill for 2022 that would ban trans female students from competing in girls’ athletics at school. Dotson said that his proposal, which is known simply as “Bill Request 154” prior to being assigned a bill number, is necessary to “protect the integrity of women’s sports.”
“We need to be realistic about the weight of these life-changing opportunities and ensure that fairness prevails,” he said in a statement cited by the local news website Kentucky Today.
The bill is the first in the country singling out transgender youth to be filed for the 2022 legislation session, as the national LGBTQ+ organization Freedom for All Americans (FFAA) confirmed to them. in an email. More are likely to be pre-filed in the coming months, and the group’s tracking also indicates that anti-trans bills remain active in at least 6 states for the 2021 session. These states are Arkansas, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
At least two pieces of legislation may end up being forced through in a special session announced in Texas later this year. They seek to limit trans youth participation in sports and prevent minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care.
Hannah Willard, vice president of government affairs at Freedom for All Americans, said there is “broad agreement” among experts and members of the public that “these bills that harm transgender youth and the people who care for them are detrimental to their health and wellness.” An opinion poll conducted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in March found that 73% of Americans oppose statewide bills explicitly banning trans girls from sports, preferring the issue to be handled at the local level.
“The reality is, transgender youth are a part of the fabric of this nation,” Willard said in a statement. “We must continue to build understanding about transgender youth and why they should never be targeted for harm.”
Dotson’s legislation is fairly similar to more than two dozen bills pushed in Texas and other states this year seeking to force transgender female athletes from to compete in accordance with their “biological sex,” but it reportedly has its own idiosyncrasies. Bill Request 154 would require students to provide a copy of their “original, unedited birth certificate” to participate in school athletics, according to the Kentucky Youth Law Project (KYLP), an LGBTQ+ legal advocacy organization.
If a student cannot provide a copy of their birth records, they would be forced to undergo a medical examination by a healthcare professional to confirm their sex.
In a statement to them., members of KYLP lambasted the proposal, which would allow cisgender students to sue if they are forced to compete against a trans athlete. Its board chair, John Martin, said that being excluded from athletics opportunities could potentially be “devastating to already vulnerable youth.”
“High school is hard enough for transgender students, who often face bullying, harassment, and mistreatment because of their gender identity,” added Keith Elston, the group’s legal director.
The introduction of Bill Request 154 follows what was an unfortunate banner year for anti-equality legislation in Kentucky. According to Chris Hartman, executive director of Fairness Kentucky, 2021 saw the most ever bills seeking to deny rights and resources to queer and transgender people: 7. These proposals included Senate Bill 83, a so-called “conscience law” seeking to allow medical workers to refuse treatment to LGBTQ+ patients based on their faith beliefs.
