PHOENIX โ Saying they are protecting the rights of women, Arizona lawmakers are moving to spell out in state law just who is female and who is male.
The legislation declares that people are the sex they were assigned at birth.
โIt provides much needed clarity in our statutes and uniformity for the courts,โโ said Buckeye Republican Sen. Sine Kerr.
She said nothing in Senate Bill 1628, which cleared the GOP-led Senate Thursday on a 16-12 party-line vote, precludes individuals from having their own โgender identity.โโ
โThis is called the Arizona Womenโs Bill of Rights for a good reason,โโ she told colleagues during debate.
โThere are a lot of safety issues as we have seen, areas where trans males have invaded vulnerable places for women,โโ Kerr said. โAnd it needs to be defined and the law followed, what a woman means, what a mother means, and also father, male, all those things.โโ
SB 1628 starts by replacing all references to โgenderโโ in state law with โsex.โโ
More to the point, it spells out that is determined at birth, includes only male or female as options, is โobjective and fixed,โโ and โdoes not include gender identity or any other term that is intended to convey a personโs subject sense of self and may not be used as a synonym or substitute for the term sex.โโ
Kern cited cases โ all from other states โ in which transgender individuals or males who identify as females have decided to participate in womenโs sports and in the process injured players who were born female.
Sen. Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, said the wording of the bill would eliminate any legal recognition of transgender people โwho are already at higher risk of violence.โโ
โWe need to be protecting the populations who need it the most,โโ she said.
And Sen. Anna Hernandez, D-Phoenix, said if Kerr and supporters of the measure are really interested in benefiting women there are other and better ways to do that.
โThat is legislation that would give us the right to pay equity,โโ she said.
โLetโs pass legislation to give us the right to be free from gender violence and sexual discrimination,โโ Hernandez said. โAnd maybe we can also work towards the right to affordable child care and to have access to reproductive health care that would benefit all of us.โโ
Arizona Republican lawmakers have for years blocked efforts by supporters to bring to ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the floor for a vote.
Kerr, for her part, said thatโs not her focus.
โThis is about protecting women, protecting our daughters, our granddaughters, young girls,โโ she said. โItโs about fairness.โโ
The measure comes as the state is fighting a ruling by a federal judge who agreed to allow two transgender girls who have not experienced puberty to play on teams designated for girls.
It is doubtful, however, whether SB 1628, even if signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, would affect that litigation. Thatโs because Judge Jennifer Zipps said the transgender girls are protected by Title IX, the federal law that bars discrimination based on sex in educational opportunities.
That case is now on appeal.
โPeople can deny reality all they want,โโ said Senate President Warren Petersen, a Gilbert Republican. โBut a man is a man and a woman is a woman.
โAnd harassment is allowing men to take the field with women and girls with their biological mass that is inherently greater, and pound them, harm them and hurt them,โ Petersen said.
He said the issue goes beyond sports.
โHarassment is allowing men into womenโs restrooms and them feeling uncomfortable and unsafe,โโ Petersen said. Ditto, he said, of boys going into girlsโ showers.
โAnd, yet, we hear from the other side of the aisle, my colleagues have said, and I quote, โLetโs get them a shower curtain, letโs have a shower curtain between the boys and the girls,โโ he said. That refers to comments made last year by Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, who said that issue of privacy could be resolved if schools were required to install shower curtains.
โIโm sorry,โโ Petersen said. โAs a dad of daughters, Iโm not OK with that.โโ
Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales, D-Tucson, suggested the legislation cold lead to situations where girls and women could have their femininity assessed by โgender police.โโ
That drew a response from Glendale Republican Sen. Anthony Kern, who said he wanted to โpromote the biggest gender cop ever.โโ
โAnd thatโs our Creator, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,โโ he said.
โHe created them, male and female,โโ Kern said. โAnd because we have left that foundation in our country is the reason why we have to sit here and listen to the nonsense of gender.โโ
Kern said that as far as heโs concerned, a personโs sex is listed on his or her birth certificate.
โIf you try to change that as you move through life, thatโs your prerogative, thatโs your freedom,โโ he said. โBut we should not allow our females, our women, our mothers, our daughters, our nieces to be subjected to biological men who decided to change their identity. That doesnโt mean theyโre a woman.โโ
The measure now goes to the House.