The Louisiana Senate voted to override Governor John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill that would make it illegal for males who identify as females to compete in female sports events.
Senator Katrina Jackson was among those who supported the governor’s position and voted against overriding his veto.
On the surface, Senator Jackson’s vote seems odd, since it seems to create an uneven playing field for female athletes forced to compete against men who “identify” as women. A man who couldn’t cut it on a male basketball team, for example, might be a superstar on girl’s team. On the surface all that is needed is for the male to “identify” as a female.
That’s the common perception, but it gets deeper, much deeper.
The governor vetoed the bill because, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, which makes the rules for high school sports already has rules in place making it difficult for a male to compete in female sports.
The LSHAA has issued “guidance” to schools on this subject, but it is not an official policy. The guidance provides a “student-athlete shall compete in the gender of their birth certificate unless they have undergone sex reassignment. A student-athlete who has undergone sex reassignment must go through the hardship appeal process to become eligible for interscholastic competition. The Hardship Committee shall consider all of the facts of the situation and shall rule the student-athlete eligible to compete in the reassigned gender when:
1. The student-athlete has undergone sex reassignment before puberty, OR
2. The student-athlete has undergone sex reassignment after puberty under all of the following conditions:
a. Surgical anatomical changes have been completed, including external genitalia changes and gonadectomy.
b. All legal recognition of the sex reassignment has been conferred with all the proper governmental agencies (Driver’s license, voter registration, etc.)
c. Hormonal therapy appropriate for the assigned sex has been administered in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimize gender-related advantages in sports competition.
d. Athletic eligibility in the reassigned gender can begin no sooner than two years after all surgical and anatomical changes have been completed.
The governor says those guidelines are sufficient, especially since there hasn’t been a single issue in the state relative to transgender participation.
To pass a state law to solve a problem that does not exist, the governor claims, is nonsensical.
In addition, the Governor says the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has suggested that championship events which are scheduled to take place in Louisiana (first up, the 2022 Men’s Final Four) could be at risk if this bill becomes law, costing the state millions of dollars in tourism revenue.
There’s one sticky point, the LSHAA guidelines are just that; guidelines; they are not state law. The guidelines are not even the adopted policy of the LSHAA. Republicans envision a day when the guidelines are challenged or circumvented. Guidelines are suggestions and don’t have the force of law. Since the national trend is becoming more liberal, even in sports participation, they want to nip it in the bud by making birth certificate gender designations the prerequisite to participate in gender-specific competitions.
They may have a point because the website transathlete.com lists Louisiana’s LSHAA guidelines that permit conditional transgender participation as discriminatory against transgender athletes because they provide too many barriers to student participation.
Even without the veto, the transgender community still views Louisiana unfavorably.
Both the Governor and Senator Jackson, perceive the issue to be a political issue promoted by Republicans to effectively break the power of the governor.
Senator Jackson says the “non-issue” of the transgender bill is being used to weaken the governor’s influence during the last years of his tenure, rendering him a true “lame duck” governor faced to deal with a Republican legislature that can override his one big weapon as governor, “Veto Power.”
So the transgender issue is not really about transgender sports, but about political power.
When the vote came down Tuesday in the Senate, it divided by party. All Republicans voted to override the veto, and all Democrats stood with the governor.
