On 20th April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which prohibited the participation of transgender women or girls in any form of women’s sports events. The act was named “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023”. The majority was passed by the Republicans while the Democrats have outright criticized it.
This whole ruckus of the trans-athlete started when the bar of testosterone level became a disqualification factor for competing in the women’s category events of the Olympics. South African gold medalist Caster Semenya was banned from competing in the Tokyo Olympics and other athletes was made to undergo sex testing before participating in the event. India’s Dutee Chand was also banned for 4 years from any international competition for high testosterone levels. It has been debated throughout whether these parameters are morally justified for the whole spectrum of Intersex, trans or Non-binary identities. In the U.S. the situation aggravated after Lia Thomas trans woman who was previously competing in the male category was allowed to compete in the women’s category and she was the champion of the NCAA Swimming Championship having the all-time season-best. She was the first trans-women to get this recognition.
States like South Carolina, Idaho, Florida and Texas have all passed laws regarding the limitation of transgender in participating in sports designated for males. These laws are specifically for those identities who were assigned male gender during birth, the question of the psychological, sociological and developmental outcome of the person is not considered. The Point of being biologically correct and pecuniary violation caused by the participation of the trans-person is given more emphasis. The violation of the bill is looked upon as, the Title IX of Education Amendments of 1972. But Section 2(e) of the act is very ambiguous and vaguely defines why the discrimination of males from participating in women’s sports is from the Transgender perspective because the radar of differentiation is based on very primitive knowledge of Gender Identities.
Democrats in the House voiced their opposition to the bill. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tweeted her speech against the bills. She stated the “dangerous bill puts transgender kids in harm’s way and puts Politics Over Participation.”. President Joe Biden also voiced against the motion irrespective of the exceptions provided in the Title IX
Swarnabh Saha, Bcom. LLB(H) Sem 6, St. Xavier’s University , Kolkata.
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