An Idaho lawmaker is set to introduce a bill preventing biological males from competing on female sports teams regardless of what gender the person identifies as.
“Boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it’s not fair. We cannot physically compete against boys and men,” Idaho Republican state Rep. Barbara Ehardt told East Idaho News on Monday.
“The inherent biological, scientific advantages that boys and men have over girls and women, even if they were to take hormones, even if they were to spend a couple of years on estrogen, that’s not going to replace the inherent biological advantages that boys and men have,” she added.
There have been several controversial instances of biological males succeeding in women’s athletics over the past few years. Two biological males won first and second place at the Connecticut state track and field championship last February. Another also won the women’s NCAA DII national championship last May.
Idaho is not the first state to attempt legislation aimed at limiting participation in women’s sports to biological females. A bill proposed earlier this month in New Hampshire was designed to prevent males from competing in female sports and vice-versa.
Some in New Hampshire criticized the move as discriminatory.
“Values of inclusion and diversity and developing concepts of teamwork and understanding are the overriding goals,” Jennifer Frizzell, policy director for the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation, said. “I feel there are some myths that might be created that people change their gender identity just to change sports teams.”
Recent polling indicates that most people in the United States support preventing women and men from competing against each other. Fifty-one percent of adults oppose allowing athletes to compete based on the gender one identifies as, and only 29% support it, according to Rasmussen.
