Late in the evening on Sunday, the Alaska House of Representatives passed House Bill 183, a measure that would protect girl and women athletes from unfair competition in their sports by boys and men who prefer to present as females (transgenders).
HB 183 was contentious from the moment it was introduced, in that Democrats put up more objection to this bill than any other in recent memory, adding amendment after amendment to delay a vote. Those who spoke against the bill could barely contain their emotions Sunday night. Showing fatigue and personal trauma, their voices shook, their bodies trembled, and some of them were on the verge of tears or choked up to the point they could barely continue.
Selected floor remarks by House members prior to the final vote on HB 183:
Bill sponsor Rep. Jamie Allard: “Like my mom, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother before me, I plan on protecting my daughters. Expecting girls and women to be physically equal to boys and men is not equality. Equality is giving girls the same opportunities as boys and men. But madam speaker, if forced to compete against biological males, women will be disadvantaged once again.”
Bill opponent Rep. Andrew Gray: “In their biological brains, trans girls are biologically female.”
Bill opponent Rep. Louise Stutes: “I’m astounded we have spent days on a bill, House Bill 183, that is unquestionably unconstitutional. Aside from the fact that there’s not one of these instances addressed in this bill happening in Alaska today.”
Bill opponent Rep. Alyse Galvin: “We have heard from dozens of kids and parents that this bill will do significant harm to a large number of Alaskans who are trans or who have loved ones who are trans.”
Bill opponent Rep. Andy Josephson: “So yes, could these bizarre circumstances happen where there’s a transgender girl who by size and acumen and talent, could compete at the highest levels with boys and men but chooses to compete with girls, yes that could happen, and that concerns me. Now, when I say concerns me, it’s like the 5,000th thing in the world that concerns me. I’m more concerned about getting home to work my lawn than I am about that, by a lot.”
Bill opponent Rep. Jennie Armstrong: “When I was a junior in high school, I left the church because of anti-LGBTQ propaganda. I knew that my church had it wrong and that my god centers love and acceptance. And I was so grateful that I was able to separate god from dogma at a young age.”
Bill opponent Rep. CJ McCormick emotionally relived childhood trauma while he described how he was bullied, but how sports was his place where he could make friends out of those who bullied him.
Bill opponent Rep. Zack Fields: “This is a blatantly unconstitutional bill. Our attorneys have told us that based on clearly false information. It would put findings that are sexist in state statute. It is morally offensive to put discriminatory laws on our statute books again 79 years after the state of Alaska passed the anti-discrimination act. The most absurd thing about this bill is that it would force all girls, my girls, to undergo a genital inspection test.”
Sponsor Rep. Jamie Allard: Madam Speaker, there are members of this body who are misunderstanding this bill. They are saying this bill provides for a general inspection of genitalia. Wow. Madam Speaker, that’s gross. That is absolutely insane. The narrative that is being put out to all Alaskans across this great state is trying to do a scare tactic. Nowhere in this two-and-a-half page bill does it say anything about genitalia exams. That is just not true.”
Watch the exchange with Rep. Gray at this clip, where Allard calls out the media to find any portion of the bill that requires genital exams:
The votes on the bill went largely along party lines, with only Rep. Daniel Ortiz of Ketchikan breaking with the Democrat caucus to vote with Republicans:
Yeas: Jamie Allard, Thomas Baker, Ben Carpenter, Julie Coulombe, Mike Cronk, David Eastman, Craig Johnson, DeLena Johnson, Kevin McCabe, Tom McKay, Daniel Ortiz, Mike Prax, George Rauscher, Justin Ruffridge, Dan Saddler, Laddie Shaw, Will Stapp, Jesse Sumner, Cathy Tilton, Frank Tomaszewski, Sarah Vance, and Stanley Wright.
Nays: Jennie Armstrong, Ashley Carrick, Maxine Dibert, Bryce Edgmon, Zack Fields, Neal Foster, Alyse Galvin, Andrew Gray, Cliff Groh, Sara Hannan, Rebecca Himschoot, Andy Josephson, CJ McCormick, Donna Mears, Genevieve Mina, Cal Schrage, Andi Story, and Louise Stutes.
House Bill 183 is seen by most observers as dead in arrival in the Democrat-led Senate, as time has run out for this session. The Legislature must adjourn May 15.
The ENEMIES of honesty, goodwill and what is logical:
Nays: Jennie Armstrong, Ashley Carrick, Maxine Dibert, Bryce Edgmon, Zack Fields, Neal Foster, Alyse Galvin, Andrew Gray, Cliff Groh, Sara Hannan, Rebecca Himschoot, Andy Josephson, CJ McCormick, Donna Mears, Genevieve Mina, Cal Schrage, Andi Story, and Louise Stutes.
These are shallow ill-mannered people with an agenda that that fails in in oh so many ways.
I want to be able to vote for a moose to take these legislature place since they don’t think there’s a difference between men and women there’s no difference difference between legislature and animals. I want to vote an animal into the legislature.
Time for Captain Obvious.
-Liberals hate girls.
-Fields is a slime ball.
-Mental issues do not Trump (deliberate) biology.
-It’s not Stutes who is fooling anyone, it’s Kodiak for claiming to be conservative.
-Grey needs mental health treatment.
-Sara, sadly, is Sara
Worst of all, this is an exercise in futility since Giessel and company are waiting to kill it.
We are a blue state run by unions. Deal with it if you want to try to change it.
Transgender is mental illness and those upholding it and trying to force it upon us as normal are gross enablers. I am sorry if you have a child that is plagued by this condition but enabling is not love. A person suffering from this condition needs help for identity issues along with very possibly anxiety, autism spectrum, adhd and other conditions. As for the sincere or faux emotions described above it seems more than a few elected officials could benefit from good counseling. There are only two genders.
Thank you Rep. Jamie Allard and all of the representatives who put up with the liberal nonsense. I watched the farce and was so disappointed in so many of them referring to men as “trans girls” I’m so glad that the Republicans are protecting females and not allowing males to compete against females in sports.
All the Dems fighting this Bill don’t even consider how they are causing significant harm to straight women in sports. What about them?
Why not set up a new category for trans women’s sports? That way, it’s a fair playing field? The answer: Oh no—because these are real women. (says the Dems)
Why don’t we see trans men playing against straight men in sports? The answer: Because they are not biologically strong enough to beat straight men. (unspoken truth)
MADNESS.
What’s wrong creating a whole different teams of transgenders who competes against ONLY and ONLY with males or other transgender.. There seems to be enough transgenders to create their own teams and LEAVE the women to compete with their own. STOP THIS STUPIDITY THAT TRANSGENGERS CAN COMPETE WITH WOMEN.
Truth matters. The emperor is naked.
Don’t democrats understand the divide they’re creating by changing Title IX and forcing girls and women to compete and undress in front of biological males? They are taking away hard fought rights that women are unwilling to give up and will fight to keep. They’re putting our girls at risk of severe physical harm and taking away their dignity in locker rooms. To the ignorant Representatives who don’t think this affects Alaskans. We now have a nationwide boycott of Planet Fitness due to males in OUR locker rooms in Fairbanks. We have young girls in a swim class in Juneau who were made to dress in FRONT OF A BOY! We have a male who ran the Kenai River marathon as a female and broke the women’s record. We have males competing in girls sports around the state. How can you be so oblivious? Most likely because our asinine liberal government can no longer even define what a woman is, unless they are trying to avoid enlisting in the selective service. Thanks to democrats, we’re now pregnant people and chest feeders. The terms mother and father are no longer acceptable. We’re LGBTQ phobic if we don’t know the hundreds of make believe gender identities. IT IS ENOUGH! You will not group us in with the mentally ill and no amount of surgery, medical meddling, or hormone therapy will ever change your biological genetic make up. Please stand up for your daughters, mother’s, and partners and tell democrats they cannot erase what it means to be a woman.
Great job Rep. Jamie Allard
It’s hard to know who are the bigger lunatics. The bill opponents ………….or, the thoroughly confused
transgendered.
.
My office hours are 8:00am to 6:00pm and I have additional weekend hours for the so-called adults who are supposed to represent you.
Doctor, if you come to Juneau you can treat them all. Maybe group sessions too.
Get your head and your evil minds out of the gutters, you are WRONG here:
Jennie Armstrong, Ashley Carrick, Maxine Dibert, Bryce Edgmon, Zack Fields, Neal Foster, Alyse Galvin, Andrew Gray, Cliff Groh, Sara Hannan, Rebecca Himschoot, Andy Josephson, CJ McCormick, Donna Mears, Genevieve Mina, Cal Schrage, Andi Story, and Louise Stutes.
.
You all are continuing to demean women, by NOT STANDING UP for our girls NOW!
Fought in the 70s for my rights as a woman and will continue the fight for our girls now.
.
Many of you people are disgusting, especially those of you even mentioning genitalia inspections, thats HOW WRONG YOU ARE! Try to be more disconnected from your emotions (get a hold of yourselves) and look at this realistically, you are forcing our girls to be SHARE BATHROOMS with grown MEN. WTF?
Who are you and what have you become that you are fighting to let the men into girls bathrooms?
And all you males wanting to take scholarships away from girls because you suck as an athletic boy, tough crap. Thats why its called competition, you COMPETE ATHLETICALLY with your PEERS (male vs male, female vs female). Otherwise, letting boys/males compete and pretend to be girls is just boys beating girls, nothing to be proud of, EVER.
Good.
There is man, there is woman, and then there is mental illness.
and demon possession
Andrew Gray, Zack Fields, Jennie Armstrong etc arguing about subjecting their daughters to genital exams prior to sports participation should be more concerned about getting counseling and treatment for their children if they feel a genital exam is needed to determine their children’s birth sex.
I’d like to see one of these “nays” have their daughter beat in a sport where she trained hard and would have won first place but the dude in a dress beat her.
This won’t stop until every female athlete refuses to compete against males.
Our culture is provisionally bifurcated: those trying to maintain a grip on reality and those trying to change the world to suit their fantasies. These two phylums are known as the right and the left. Legislators are generally intelligent people with varying degrees of morality. However, they care more about votes than they do about male vs female sports. Votes enable them to remain in power…. which is addictive. So, when you see them voting on legislative issues, just remember they are actually mining for voter support more than showing concern for the issues. The problems of leftism are being created by our friends and neighbors. Our problems are truly ground-level.
Since josephson has his priorities upside down, he should leave the house and focus on his grass.
Idiot.
When you argue with idiots, they can wear you down to their level and beat you with experience. Thank goodness that didn’t happen this time. Stay strong conservatives, the democrats are ramping up for rebuttals and theatrics.
Cookies, please.
Thank you Jamie Allard and those legislators who voted to protect women’s rights!!
Good point Ginny!
This is such a filthy place I cannot bear AK anymore.
What a disappointment to see a medical professional like Mr. Gray make such a blatantly false attempt asserting equivalence of mental health issues with hardwired genetic biology. IF I were his patient I would consider finding another provider.
Bill opponent Rep. Andrew Gray: “In their biological brains, trans girls are biologically female.”
Andrew: In their physical bodies, trans girls are biologically male
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