Utah bill restricting transgender girls in sports is reintroduced

Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, has penned a new version of her bill that restricts transgender girl participation in school sports after her earlier full ban failed this year. The bill, HB-11, allows transgender high school girls to compete if they have had one year of hormone therapy and changed the sex designation on their birth certificate. Current requirement from the Utah High School Activities Association requires a year of hormone therapy, but not a changed birth certificate. Birkeland says the bill is the result of negotiations between her, Equality Utah, the ACLU, parents, coaches, and UHSAA. The bill addresses only students in school years 9–12. “I believe we have a policy that is fair, balanced and will accomplish the goal of preserving women’s sports,” Birkeland said. “It will help alleviate concerns of fairness and make sure that there are no competitive advantages or disadvantages for any athlete. … I want to make sure that my daughter is playing on an even playing field.” Equality Utah attorney Clifford Rosky, said the group is considering endorsing the bill if the legislation clearly states that puberty blockers count as qualifying hormone therapy and the birth certificate requirement is removed. During the committee meeting, Birkeland said she viewed puberty blockers as qualifying as the hormone therapy required in the bill, although that’s not explicitly stated in it. Rosky did raise the concern of the requirement to have the birth certificate changed by a judge. “It’s requiring students to pay court fees and hire a lawyer to go through a court process and that is quite expensive,” he said. “That’s a big barrier for a lot of students.” Birkeland said the birth certificate change is proof that a family is serious about the gender change. The Utah Supreme Court ruled this year that judges should grant requests for transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificate. A state legislative committee discussed tweaking that ruling with a new statute.

Rep. Kera Birkland

Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, questioned whether hormone therapy was enough to “even the playing field.” He told the committee he was 6’4” by the time he finished sixth grade, giving him a competitive advantage at basketball. “If I’m transgender and I transition after I’ve had those biological developments, how do you negate that when you’re talking about competition in a female sport?” he said. “I still see that as being a competitive advantage, and fairness is the point.” Birkeland said she wasn’t trying to address every aspect of competitive fairness in this bill. Transgender activist Sue Robbins said she appreciated the work Birkeland did since the end of the last legislative session, though she’s worried about other expected legislation like a ban on hormone therapy for minors and a ban on changing sex markers on birth certificates. Both of those proposals, she said, could undermine Birkeland’s bill. “The transgender community to me has become a lightning rod, and I think we all see that in every area. We’re having to play defense,” Robbins said. “We’ve been educating and we have made progress here. I believe we should take this framework and see where it will lead with the other bills potentially causing distraction and conflict against this effort. … We have the ingredients. We got to put the recipe together.” The 2022 Utah Legislative Session is scheduled from Jan. 18 to March 4, 2022.