House Bill 183, which clarifies protections for girls sports in Alaska schools ran into trouble with House Democrats and even some Republicans on Thursday. Evidently, supporting Title IX in its intended form, which is protection for girl athletes, is such a touchy subject that House members didn’t want to vote on it. It was tabled.
Rep. Alyse Galvin argued that her own child had changed his or her gender and even had his/her birth certificate changed, and so she felt her child was attacked by the provision that girls shouldn’t be forced to compete against boys in sports.
Rep. Zack Fields said it was just too much work to try to figure out who is a boy and who is a girl, and the schools are already too underfunded already.
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot asserted that students would have to undress for a formal inspection of their genitals.
Rep. Sara Hannan said there’s no real way to know what some baby’s sex is without a complicated hormone test, which isn’t done.
Rep. Andrew Gray went on at length about transgenders and argued that intersex people would not be protected (they are said to comprise 0.018% of all people, according to the National Institutes of Health.)
Rep. Gray offered an amendment that stated that transgender people have constitutional rights and all protections of other citizens, but he all-but admitted that his amendment was a way to invalidate the underlying legislation. His amendment was a poison pill to give the Alaska Supreme Court permission to decide that boys competing as girls is a constitutional right.
It failed to pass, as Republican representatives recognized it as a poison pill.
Rep. Andy Josephson then put in the “chess” amendment, which makes it clear that the bill would not apply to transgenders playing in girls’ chess tournaments. Apparently there were going to be such nonsensical amendments as his from then on. Perhaps a checkers amendment, and then a dominos one.
It was at that point when, as expected, Rep. Bryce Edgmon moved that the bill be tabled until May 11. The House went into an extended at-ease and the majority Republicans left the chambers to caucus.
The bill, House Bill 183, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River, had over 100 amendments in the queue for it. So strong was the urge of the Democrats to give transgenders more rights than girls in Alaska in athletic competitions, they filibustered the bill.
