Fairness For Girls Angers Liberals
Legislative Update from Micah Clark at American Family Association of Indiana.
There was an important and heated debate on Monday over the issue of fairness for women in Indiana. The House Education Committee listened to several hours of debate on House Bill 1041 the Fairness in Girls’ Sports Act.
This legislation simply states that biological males cannot participate in competitive girls’ sports in Indiana K-12 education. (Unfortunately, language was removed from the bill applying it to collegiate sports.)
There was a lot of compelling testimony from athletes, coaches, parents, and doctors about the problems of males, (psychologically confused or not), competing with girls. There are 63,000+ girls in K12 school sports in Indiana. Many will rely upon their sports performance for scholarships. Unfair competition undermines those opportunities and the historic Title 9 civil rights protections specifically created for women’s sports.
One of the most powerful testimonies that stuck with me was a PowerPoint presentation from a strength coach and doctor. He explained that a trans-male competing against females has a strength advantage that is five times more than the advantage a woman taking steroids would have over a natural female competitor.
What I learned from testimony from LGBTQ activists, liberal ministers, and the ACLU, is that if you don’t go fully along with someone’s psychological fantasy to hide, medically restrain, or mutilate their body, then you are a hateful and unloving person.
The hearing ended with yelling, profanity, and threats from several trans activists in the House gallery that could have warranted police action. Committee Chairman Bob Behning was gracious in letting them be rude and menacing rather than calling for security.
HB 1041 passed out of committee, moving to the House floor where the media and liberal activists will surely demonize it. It passed 8-4 with one of the most liberal Republican members of the House, Rep. Ed Clere, joining three Democrats.
It’s worth noting that a recent Gallup Poll found that by a margin of 2 to 1, 62% of Americans do not support biological males competing against women in school sporting events. CBS News found a similar result at 60% opposition.
Legislators may not know of this majority support for fairness for girls unless they hear from common sense Hoosiers like you.
You can call your House member and ask them to support HB 1041 at 317-232-9600.
Legislature Considers Election Integrity Issue
I have been asked about election integrity issues in the state legislature. There is a very modest election reform bill that is seeing action.
House Bill 1116 authored by Rep. Tim Wesco (HD21) requires counties to have paper ballot backups to their voting machines. Machines used or chosen by Indiana counties would have to have Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail [VVPAT] printers. It has been reported by Center Square that Indiana was one of just eight states that used voting machines in the 2020 presidential election that had no paper ballot backups.
The House bill passed easily out of the Elections Committee. It went before the Ways & Means Committee due to its fiscal note and should be on the full floor soon.
Overturn Roe – Most Want Abortion Restrictions
There is an interesting new Marist Poll that finds that a strong majority of Americans support significant restrictions on abortion. While 54% of people label themselves “pro-choice” they do not hold typical pro-choice positions. In fact, 71% support restrictions that are more strict than federal law. They believe that abortion should be restricted to the first three months of pregnancy. Most (60%) also say that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and the issue returned to the states.
There has been some talk of contingency legislation in this legislative session which would state that if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade abortion would be illegal in Indiana except for certain cases. The court might overturn Roewhen they rule on the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In my view, now would be the time to pass such a bill or amendment before the national liberal freak out occurs over a ruling handed down this summer.
Others, including some key legislative leaders have said we should wait until the ruling and reconvene the legislature to address this in the summer. I could be wrong, but those who think our legislature will reconvene to address the Dobbsruling during the predictable media circus are far more optimistic, or less cynical than me.
In Their Own Words:
“Number one, biological boys, I’ve said from the beginning, should not be playing in women’s sports. We need to protect women’s sports. . .Obviously, this is about Lia Thomas, who has brought a lot of attention to this issue. . .I respect her decision to live her life authentically . . . But it also comes with responsibility and some integrity. I don’t know why she’s doing this … for two reasons. One, it’s not good for the trans community. I mean, we have a lot of issues in the trans community that are very difficult and very challenging. We have a suicide rate that’s nine times higher than the general public.
But it’s also not good for women’s sports. . . It’s unfortunate that this is happening. I don’t know why she’s doing it. She knows when she’s swimming, she’s beating the competition by two laps. She was born a biological boy. She was raised as a biological boy. Her cardiovascular system is bigger. Her respiratory system is bigger. Her hands are bigger. She can swim faster. That’s a known.
All of this woke world that we are living in right now is not working. I feel sorry for the other athletes that are out there, especially anybody she’s competing against, because in the woke world, you have to say, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is great,’ and on and on and on. No, it’s not! We need to protect women’s sports.”
– Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Olympic Gold medalist Bruce Jenner, Fox News interview 1/19/22
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