Expected Idaho bill would limit transgender students’ participation in high school sports

An Idaho lawmaker plans to propose a bill that would prevent transgender students from competing in high school sports on teams that do not align with their sex at birth.

State Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R) told The Hill the legislation she has worked on for 18 months as a former women’s basketball player and coach is an effort to protect women and girls. 

“I am deeply invested in the continued opportunities for girls and women in sports,” she said in a statement to The Hill. 

Ehardt said biological boys and men should play sports with those with “whom their DNA and biology aligns.”

“We cannot physically compete against boys and men,” she said in a statement obtained by The Hill. “The inherent biological and scientifically proven advantages that boys and men possess over girls and women, regardless of hormone usage, is such that we simply cannot physically compete against them due to their inherent biological advantages.”

She said her bill was supposed to be introduced in the 2019 legislative session but was not ready. She added that her legislation is not anti-LGBTQ.

“This has nothing to do with an anti-LGBT agenda,” she said in a statement. “This is all about providing the opportunity for girls and women to continue to compete just as our counterparts, boys and men, are able to compete.”

Republican lawmakers in at least five other states, including Tennessee, have proposed legislation designed to forbid students from playing on sports teams that do not align with their sex at birth.