"It's pro-female athletes," says Mary Elizabeth Castle, senior policy advisor at Texas Values. "It's basically making sure that biological males are not unfairly competing in female sports."
Castle is referring to the Save Women's Sports bill (H.B. 25), which is designed to level the playing field in girls' sports. According to Texas Values, 37 states have moved in the same direction (8 signing it into law), the argument being that biological males are competing in and dominating female sports to the point that biological females are losing trophies, championships, and scholarships.
Not surprisingly, the pro-LGBTQ group Human Rights Campaign, opposes the bill.
"Radical policies like the anti-transgender sports ban bill that target children for no reason other than to score political points, making the state less safe and desirable for families to live and work, putting businesses in the state at a competitive disadvantage," HRC says in a press release.
Castle responds: "It is unfair that biological males will try to identify as females and then compete in female sports when they clearly have physiological advantages, which is the whole reason why we had Title IX and had separate sports for females in the first place. We want to be proactive and make sure that we have a law in place to protect female values."
The Texas House passed H.B. 25 last week on a 76-54 vote. On Sunday, the State Senate approved the measure. It now goes to GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law.
