Story at a glance
- Utah legislators will meet Friday for a veto override session to reconsider House Bill 11, which seeks to prevent transgender girls from playing on school sports teams aligning with their gender identity.
- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) Tuesday evening vetoed the bill, criticizing it as unnecessary given the small number of trans student athletes in the state and denouncing lawmakers for making significant changes to the bill in the final hours of the legislative session.
- Utah Senate President Stuart Adams (R) and House Speaker Brad Wilson (R) said in a statement that they anticipate having enough votes to override Cox’s veto.
Utah legislators have announced plans to meet Friday for a special session to override Gov. Spencer Cox’s (R) veto of a bill seeking to bar transgender girls from playing on school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.
Cox on Tuesday vetoed House Bill 11 — prohibiting “a student of the male sex from competing against another school on a team designated for female students” — making good on a promise made earlier this month. The definition of “sex” under the bill is limited to the “biological, physical condition of being male or female, determined by an individual’s genetics and anatomy at birth.”
In a joint statement Tuesday evening, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams (R) and House Speaker Brad Wilson (R) said a veto override session would be called Friday to reconsider the bill, with two-thirds of the members of each chamber in favor of reconvening.
“We must work to preserve the integrity of women’s sports and ensure it remains fair and safe for all. We have been listening to our constituents, talking with experts, and we feel it’s important to make decisions now that protect athletes and ensure women are not edged out of their sport,” Adams said. “Creating a safe and fair environment for athletes takes work. We care deeply for all students, but we can not ignore the scientific facts that biological boys are built differently than girls. Doing nothing is taking a step backward for women.”
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Wilson on Tuesday said the governor’s action on the bill had been expected, but that the legislature will continue to work to find a solution to the “complex issue” of transgender athlete participation in school sports.
“Ultimately, the Legislature recognizes the value of girls athletics and our members want to ensure girls have the level playing field to compete that was created by Title IX,” he said, referencing the federal civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Wilson said he anticipates the legislature will have “sufficient votes” to override the governor’s veto, which was not the case when the bill originally passed in the final hours of the 2022 session.
But now, several House and Senate Republicans are staring down the barrel of a tough race for re-election, with their opponents largely opposed to the bill. Supporting HB11 could mean the difference between holding onto their seats or leaving the legislature, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Cox in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday following his veto said the amended version of the bill he had received differed markedly from what legislators had initially debated. An earlier version of HB11 had proposed a panel of experts be appointed to determine whether transgender student athletes would be eligible to compete on sports teams which match their gender identity on a case-by-case basis.
“On the last day of the legislative session we began hearing rumors of a 4th substitute of the bill that would implement an all-out ban, with the new commission only coming into play if a court prohibited the ban,” Cox wrote. “While it is not unusual to have legislators propose changes to bills, it is unusual to have major overhauls proposed at the last minute on significant policy issues that had been the subject of so much negotiation. It is even rarer to have these pass, especially with no communication with those who had been negotiating the issue.”
“It is important to note that a complete ban was never discussed, never contemplated, never debated and never received any public input prior to the Legislature passing the bill on the 45th and final night of the session,” he wrote.
Cox added that there are currently just four trans student athletes in the state of Utah, and only one plays on a girls’ sports team.
“Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day,” Cox wrote, adding: “I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.”
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