On Transgender Visibility Day, we wish we could simply celebrate the joy, resilience, and beauty of gender-diverse and transgender Pennsylvanians.
Unfortunately, Republican leaders in Harrisburg have chosen this week to repeatedly misgender transgender students and advance the misleadingly titled “Fairness in Women’s Sports” House Bill 972.
This legislation seeks to override governing bodies NCAA and PIAA to legislatively ban transgender girls and women from competing in school-based sports programs that reflect their gender identity. If passed, this ban would violate state and federal laws including Title IX, the 1972 federal law that supporters of this bill falsely claim aligns with their efforts.
There’s no delicate way to put it: Tuesday’s hearing on House Bill 972 was appalling. (You can watch video of the hearing here.)
Prime sponsor Rep. Barbara Gleim set the tone by cruelly misgendering transgender girls and women broadly as well as specific athletes at least seven times in her opening remarks. A person can feel strongly about this subject without resorting to purposefully misgendering people—especially when those people are vulnerable children and constituents you have taken an oath to serve and represent.
The chronic misgendering of vulnerable constituents by Rep. Gleim—who specifically asserted the bill’s sponsors should be acknowledged as female—was an unnecessary cruelty that underscores the mean-spiritedness of the legislation and dishonors the work of the Education Committee, a body that presumably values learning about the world around us and cares about the well-being of students.
Misgendering people can cause psychological distress in a population that is already vulnerable due systemic marginalization like, for example, Pennsylvania Legislature’s decade-long refusal to pass statewide LGBTQ+ protections. In the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), 78% of respondents reported being harassed, 35% attacked and 12% sexually assaulted due to their gender representation.
As we explained in our letter of opposition to the Education Committee, discrimination against transgender people in education programs including athletics violates Title IX, which applies to educational programs that receive federal funds. It also violates the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act, which apply to all educational institutions in the Commonwealth. As the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education has confirmed, Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Unfortunately, HB 972 passed out of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee 15-9, along party lines.
We agree with the bill’s sponsors on one point, which is that female athletes deserve a fair playing field as promised under Title IX.
To that point, we urge the sponsors of HB 972 to address significant Title IX participation gaps in schools in their respective districts, gaps that have persisted while they have been in Harrisburg explaining how much they care about gender equity in school athletics.
In the meanwhile, we urge you to stand in solidarity with gender-nonconforming and transgender students – today and every day. The next step for House Bill 972 is to go to the House for a full vote. Please contact your state legislator and urging them to vote NO on House Bill 972.
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you. Please consider supporting our work.
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