Senate Sets Hearing on Transgender Athletes Bill As LGBT Groups Rally in Opposition

(INDIANAPOLIS) – LGBT advocates are blasting a proposed ban on transgender girls in high school sports, ahead of a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.

Supporters argue the bill is necessary to avoid warping the playing field for athletes competing for roster spots, championships and scholarships. The LGBT rights group Human Rights Campaign blasts the bill as a “cookie cutter” of bills passed in eight states last year, and accuses backers of pursuing a national “culture war” agenda.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which plans a statehouse rally before Wednesday’s hearing, charges even introducing the bill, much less enacting it, jeopardizes the mental and physical health of transgender kids, by sending a message they don’t deserve the same opportunities as their classmates.

Greencastle City Councillor Veronica Pejril (D), Indiana’s first transgender elected official, notes the IHSAA already has an eligibility policy for transgender athletes, based on bone density and muscle mass. She says that’s far better than the blanket ban, which she calls a sledgehammer approach compared to the “X-Acto knife” used by the IHSAA. And Pejril and Carmel Senator J.D. Ford (D), the legislature’s only openly gay member, point out the IHSAA has never once had to apply the policy.

IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig told a House committee last month there’s been a single instance of a transgender athlete asking to play girls’ sports in Indiana, and that case was resolved by the school district.

The Senate Education Committee will hear testimony Wednesday, but won’t vote till at least next week. Indiana would be the 11th state with a transgender ban if the bill becomes law.