PHOENIX โ A divided House voted Tuesday to keep people born biologically as male from participating in interscholastic or intramural sports as a female, regardless of the personโs gender identity and even if there had been a sex reassignment.
House Bill 2706, approved on a 31-29 margin with all of the Houseโs Republicans in support, now goes to the Senate.
The bill would do more than close off sports designated for females to anyone โof the male sex.โ It also would require that any student whose sex is disputed get a genetic test, with the results certified by a physician.
The vote came despite the fact the Arizona Interscholastic Association already has protocols in place to determine whether a student can participate on an athletic team that differs from their sex assigned at birth.
That process includes a description of the studentโs โgender story,โ including the age when they became aware of โincongruenceโ between the sex assigned at birth and the gender identity. Other factors include whether a student is undergoing gender transition and has letters of support from a parent, school administrator and a qualified health-care provider.
AIA Executive Director David Hines told Capitol Media Services his organization had โabout 10โ cases in the past three or four years where it approved allowing someone to participate in a sport that did not match his or her birth gender. He said โabout sixโ of those athletes were born male but identify as female.
Rep. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, who is sponsoring the legislation, said she does not believe the AIA rules are either sufficient or should be the last word.
โItโs harming women to allow AIA to control,โ she said, because it allows biological males to compete with those born female.
Thatโs also the assessment of House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa.
โWe are here to protect Title IX,โ he said, referring to the federal civil rights law designed to give women equal opportunities in sports. Bowers said allowing biological males to take slots in womenโs sports undermines that.
Barto agreed, saying the legislation will ensure the continuance of womenโs sports, meaning sports played by women and only women.
โAnyone who cares about making sure that โฆ women are playing on a level playing field wants to see a bill thatโs going to clarify that women will have that going forward in Arizona,โ she said. โWe want to make sure that my granddaughters and their offspring, that the future of Arizona has womenโs sports in its future.โ
Much of the debate centered around exactly who could challenge an athleteโs gender.
The legislation does not spell that out. Instead, it would give a separate right to sue to โany student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers any direct or indirect harmโ because a biological male participated in a sport reserved for girls or women.
That lack of specificity on demanding a test bothered Rep. Reginald Bolding, D-Laveen, who is the father of two girls.
โDo you think itโs OK for someone to compel me to get my little girls genetically tested if theyโre participating in sports?โ he asked. โWould you think thatโs OK that โฆ the burden comes to me because you want to get my girls tested, maybe because theyโre winning, maybe because their appearance may make you question that?โ
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said he interprets the legislation to require a test only when a school gets a request that may have merit. But he could not identify where that was spelled out.
And Rep. Raquel Teran, D-Phoenix, asked who would pick up the tab for a test that could cost up to $500.
โIโll look into that,โ said Barto.
Rep. Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, asked Barton whether she believes transgender women are women. Barto dismissed that as โirrelevant.โ
โBiological males are not women,โ Barto said. โThere are two sexes. There may be many descriptions of genders and gender identities.โ
Barto said the bottom line is protecting womenโs sports for women.
โThe differences between males and females is common sense,โ she said. โOur bone structures are different. Men are stronger.โ
Rep. Daniel Hernandez, D-Tucson, suggested the legislation is built on a flawed premise.
โJust by virtue of being a male does not mean that someone is better at sport,โ he said. โI, objectively, am not better at sports than people like (tennis champion) Serena Williams.โ
He got Barto to acknowledge that she knows of no woman in Arizona who has been denied a scholarship opportunity or title because of having to complete against someone who was born a biological male.
โBut itโs only a matter of time in my opinion,โ she said.
Hernandez disagreed, citing the statistic that there are only 10 athletes competing outside their original biological sex. โThis is not an Arizona problem,โ he said.
Rep. Kelli Butler, D-Paradise Valley, pointed out that federal law makes all student records confidential.
She said any challenge to a studentโs eligibility would necessarily result in a public finding of the results of the genetic test. That effectively would make that personโs genetic test results public, even if it conflicted with how the student presents himself or herself to schoolmates, Butler said.
