America's Talking - House Republicans Pass Bill Banning Biological Males From Competing in Women’s Sports

Episode Date: April 23, 2023

Republicans in the U.S. voted Thursday to pass the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act," the latest salvo in the ongoing battle over transgender athletes. The legislation would ban schools that receive federal funding, which is nearly all schools, from allowing biological males to compete in sports designated for women and girls. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McCaleb, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. With me today is Casey Harper, the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief. Casey, we're recording this on Friday, April 21st. There has been a huge battle going on across the country the past more than a year, I guess, regarding transgender issues on topics such as, Should biological boys who identify as girls be allowed to play high school sports, college sports, etc? This week, the U.S. House passed legislation that would bar biological boys from playing girls' sports. Tell us about it. The House Republicans did pass this bill. There's some doubt over if it don't even get a vote in the Senate, but it's really interesting to see so many Republicans be so proactive and so unified on what's mostly a social issue.

because, you know, Republicans kind of hit a miss on the social issues their base cares about. Sometimes they draw the line and they're just going to stick by it. And other times they kind of just ignore it because they don't want to fight the battle. So the example would be for the most part, Republicans have drawn the line on abortion. There's definitely some flaky Republicans, but they're pretty strong on abortion and they're fighting that fight. And they've just decided it is a social issue, but we're going to fight it. Whereas, you know, the gay marriage issue, which is kind of done now, it's not even an

issue. But, I mean, I remember when it was an issue. And Republicans, I think, for the most part, just didn't want to fight. that fight. There was a few who did, but they kind of just let that battle go. And so here we are with this transgender issue, and I think they have the same choice. But what we're seeing, at least for now, I think, is that they've decided to take up this fight in the way they've taken up abortion and not ignore it kind of the way they did gay marriage. So I think that shows, you know, them digging in their heels shows this is not going away. I think there is a lot of

organization in the conservative base in fighting this. There is real concern about these athletes because, I don't know if you've seen, have you seen some of these videos, Dan, where there's like a, just like a six-foot-three transgender athlete running against these like five-foot-six high school or junior high girls and just dominating them. Have you seen any of these competition videos? Yeah, I have and it's disturbing, my personal opinion. I think these videos honestly have really informed it. People watch this and there's just kind of an internal sense that this isn't fair. And there have been some injuries. There was a girl who was injured in volleyball when a biological male spiked the volleyball into her face. She was really injured. There was a UFC fighter who was just

absolutely destroyed by the biological male. She was fighting. So there has become even really a health or safety, you know, risk or questions about this. Of course, Leah Thompson, you know, famously broke all these like records, won championships and swimming. And so all these athletes are breaking records. And it's just kind of like a sense that what's going on here is this really fair to the girls. And there's been a lot of outspoken young women who have gone around raising, really it's just like a justice issue, raising concerns about this saying, hey, this isn't fair. It's taking scholarships from girls. It's taking medals from girls who are working really hard. I mean, I think everyone instinctively knows that some of these girls, they don't have a chance. And this isn't

just like sexism or something is documented. If you look at all the world records, for example, for every Olympic competition and the world, the world records for men and women, the men's world records are always so much faster or the lifting records are so much, you know, much more weight stronger. And of course, there's so much scientific research about how men are faster and stronger than women. And it's not just the testosterone of the hormones. It's like bone density, even the way, like literally the way our bones are structured from birth are different.

So there's, I don't know, I think that it, I don't sure that this particular bill is really going to be like the fond of the coffin, but it's really interesting to see that this has become one of the top culture war issues. And I don't think it's going away soon. Yeah, and it's been fought in the States to the North Carolina legislature, for example, this week, just passed legislation that would bar biological males from participating in girls' sports, even if they identify with girls. Riley Gaines lobbied for that legislation to be passed, and she posted a video of one of those high school girls, volleyball players, that was injured

by a biological boy. It drew hundreds of thousands of engagements in, like, just a few hours. So this is not something that's just on the minds of top Republicans and top Democrats. The American people are getting involved in this as well. Yeah, they are. And there's been a lot of really good reporting showing that even, you know, that one of the rules of journalism is follow the money. And there's been a lot of really good reporting showing that there is a lot of money to be made in pushing these surgeries and treatments on young kids.

There's whole, it's really a cottage industry of hormones and surgeries. And, you know, Vanderbilt Medical Center, for example, really took a lot of heat for this and how they were talking about the profit and the money to be made off of these, you know, treating kids on this trans stuff. So there's really a, you know, I think whoever has the better story usually wins on political issues. And I think the Republicans have built a pretty compelling story that, hey, there's a fringe activist group who's pushing this stuff on kids and making a ton of money off of it, using it for political gain. And it's hurting young girls, not to mention the kids who, who experience it and who often later regret that they transitioned and had these life altering

procedures and hormones in the first place. Yeah, but there are states that are going to on the other way to the Washington State Legislature, for example, is working on legislation that would allow teens, non-adults, minors, to transition without alerting their parents, for example. Battle lines have definitely been drawn, and this is a fight and a story that is not going to go away. Readers can follow the Center Squares coverage on this topic and others at cincersquare.com. For Casey Harper, I'm Dan McAulb.

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