Alaska Rep. Peltola calls U.S. House transgender sports ban ‘bullying’ and ‘federal overreach’

WASHINGTON — Alaska U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola on Thursday voted against a Republican-backed measure that would bar transgender girls and women from competing in school sports in accordance with their gender identity, saying the bill amounted to “bullying.”

The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” would amend Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in federally funded schools, to recognize sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Though the bill passed the House 219-203 in a party-line vote, President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the bill in the unlikely case a Democratic-controlled Senate passes it.

Peltola, a Democrat, criticized the bill for singling out transgender youths, an already vulnerable population. More than half of transgender youths have attempted suicide, and 86% have reported suicidality, according to a 2020 study.

“I don’t know why on Earth as adults and national leaders, we’d be piling on and targeting them and trying to make their lives even harder,” Peltola said in an interview after the vote. “That’s my position.”

[US House Republicans pass ban on trans athletes on girls and women’s teams]

Peltola also said the bill exemplifies “federal overreach” and that local states, boroughs and school districts should lead decision making.

“We have so many cultures within our larger national culture,” she said. “We can’t do one-size-fits-all for every school district.”

Peltola also referenced Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who vetoed a bill that would’ve banned transgender athletes from girls sports in that state. As part of his reasoning, Cox — a Republican — said that of Utah’s 75,000 high school athletes, only four transgender youths participated in Utah sports, and only one played on a girls sports team.

“I don’t know what the numbers are for Alaska. I don’t know if they’re recorded anywhere, but I think it would be a really stark contrast in numbers,” Peltola said.

Billy Strickland, executive director of the Alaska School Activities Association, has said in recent weeks that he is aware of only one transgender student who competed in Alaska high school sports during his nine-year tenure. He said ASAA — the governing body for high school sports in the state — doesn’t track the number of transgender students participating in school sports.

In May, the association is planning to consider a policy that would bar transgender girls from participating in girls’ school sports and create two divisions: one for athletes whose sex assigned at birth is female, and another that would be open to students of all genders. Currently, ASAA’s bylaws allow each school board and school district to adopt their own policies.

[Alaska high school sports association to consider barring transgender girls from girls’ sports teams]

The proposed policy change is modeled after a non-binding resolution that Alaska’s education board unanimously approved in March, encouraging state education officials and the school sports association to enact such restrictions.

Restrictions on transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports have gained traction in conservative strongholds across the country. Proponents of the bans have raised concerns about girls’ safety in athletics and argued that transgender girls and women have a competitive advantage in sports.

Asked about what she would say to Alaskans who support banning transgender girls from girls sports teams, Peltola said she would encourage them to visit with a transgender youth who wants to play team sports.

“I think so much about sports isn’t about winning or who crosses the finish line first. I think it’s about camaraderie and sportsmanship and friendships,” she said. “... I think that’s what most kids are involved in sports for, is for that camaraderie.”

The bill passed by the U.S. House is the latest in a barrage of so-called “messaging bills” that stand virtually no chance of passing the Senate and getting Biden’s signature. The House recently passed another such bill, the Parents Bill of Rights Act, which sought to require parental consent for elementary and middle school students to use a different name, change their pronouns or change which locker room or bathroom they use in school, among other items. Peltola also voted against the measure last month and referred to it as “punching down” on vulnerable students.

“I think that we just really need to have more of an open heart and get to know more people who are in this category to find out more about them before enacting punitive laws that work against them,” Peltola said of LGBTQ+ youths.

The House transgender sports ban policy had 93 Republican co-sponsors. The measure specifies that transgender women and men can practice and train in sports, “so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said Wednesday he was not tracking the House bill. He signed onto a letter last fall calling on the U.S. Education Department to restrict transgender girls’ participation in sports. The letter criticized a proposed Education Department rule to define sex discrimination under Title IX to include “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

“I remain committed to ensuring every student has a safe and respectful environment that provides them the ability to reach their full potential,” Sullivan said in a statement at that time. “Part of that commitment means preserving the ability for female athletes to engage in competitive sports that do not create implicit disadvantages before competition even begins.”

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday that she would review policies on the issue as they come “directly in front of me.”

“I recognize full well that there is there is a great deal of emotion about this issue,” Murkowski said. “People feel strongly about it on both sides and we want to make sure that there is there is fairness to all time not only in sports, but in access.”