PA GOP Senators Pass Bill Restricting Trans Women From Playing School Sports

The legislation restricts transgender girls and women from playing scholastic and collegiate sports on women’s teams in Pennsylvania. A similar bill passed the state House in April.

With gun violence escalating, gas prices topping $5, abortion rights on the line, and a pathetic minimum wage, Pennsylvania GOP Senators instead passed legislation to prohibit transgender women from participating in women’s sports. 

Not for nothing, they advanced this law during Pride Month.

Sponsored by Sen. Judy Ward (R-Blair), Senate Bill 1191, which passed 30-20, requires public K-12 schools and colleges to designate sports as male, female, or coed. The bill now heads to the House where an identical bill was previously approved. One Democrat, Sen. Lisa Boscola (Northampton), crossed party lines to vote in favor of the Senate version.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf will veto the legislation if it makes it to his desk, his spokeswoman Beth Rementer said.

“Republicans in the General Assembly have made it clear that they would rather focus on attention seeking stunts instead of addressing critical issues,” Rementer  said.

But that wouldn’t be the case if the Republican nominee for governor is successful in November.

“Where are the feminists?” said Sen. Doug Mastriano (Franklin), the current Republican gubernatorial nominee, who backs the measure. “I stand on the side of the lady athletes. I stand on the side of science.”

Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and has said he would veto any discriminatory bill that came to his desk if elected governor.

The bill has been met with strong opposition from Senate Democrats. Sen. Amanda Cappelletti (Montgomery) shot back at Mastriano’s comment during the floor debate on the proposed legislation.

“My colleagues across the aisle asked: where are the feminists? We are right here,” she said. “We are standing in opposition to Senate Bill 1191 because trans girls are girls; trans women are women.”

Cappelletti also took to Twitter to vent her frustrations.

And she wasn’t the only one.

Lawmakers in other states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Utah passed similar legislation recently, bringing the total number of states with laws banning young transgender athletes playing on girls teams to 18, according to the Movement Advancement Project.. Legislation that would ban trans girls and women from competing in school sports is still pending in a number of other states.