By TIM BARTO
At the very end of the 2024 Alaska legislative session, the House brought HB183 to a floor vote. This bill, introduced by Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River, is a piece of social legislation that provides protection for female athletes from intrusion by male athletes who identify as females.
Doubts existed that a majority of the House, Republican or not, was going to vote in favor of it. Concerns about it taking up time and energy from more pressing issues, such as energy and budgetary bills, frustrated lawmakers, especially conservatives who expected an onslaught of amendments by their leftist colleagues intended to drag out the process in the hopes of tiring the majority.
Republican representatives from liberal and moderate districts worried that a vote in favor would cost them support, putting their November re-election runs in jeopardy.
Besides, if the House mustered enough votes to pass the bill, it was a foregone conclusion that the liberal Senate majority would not pick up the bill, especially with only three days left in the session.
The pragmatic solution, it seemed, was to not hear the bill on the floor. Deal with the simmering pots of boring yet important fiscal and energy matters, and play it safe on the controversial social stuff. But that is not what happened.
Allard, with encouragement from fellow staunch conservatives, pushed for the bill to be heard on the floor and for the representatives’ votes to be a matter of record. HB183 made it to the floor where it received that expected – and ridiculous – flurry of obfuscating amendments from the left side of the aisle. The Republicans suffered the long hours, stayed the course, and passed it by a vote of 22 to 18. The only Republican voting against keeping girls’ sports for girls was Kodiak Representative Louise Stute. No Democrats voted for it, but Independent Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan sided with the majority.
So, was it worth it? Yes, absolutely yes, because truth, decency, and common sense are important; and so is fighting against the increasingly angry and absurd voices that continually introduce new categories of oppressed people.
It’s way past time to stand up to the unceasing attacks on traditional family values and the promotion of bizarre lifestyles, the latter of which are seemingly intended to drag the majority of human beings into a delusional world where biology is ignored and virtue lies in offending people . . . and, in turn, being offended because they were successful in their goal to offend.
Since the Senate did not hear the bill before the end of the 2024 session, it will be up to the 34th Alaska Legislature to introduce a new bill to save girls’ sports when they convene next January. Hopefully, the November elections will show that saving girls’ sports for girls is an idea supported by the majority of voters, and the matter will be taken up early in the new session.
For now, the Alaska House of Representatives scores a win for passing HB183.
Tim Barto is a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska and vice president at Alaska Family Council, which led the fight to keep girls’ sports for girls.
If your re election is more important than standing up for girls safety – in a state with a way to high incidence of sexual assault on girls-
You deserve to lose. Part of why the AK GOP is feckless and useless.
Election or re-election always has been more important than anything else to 90% of people who run for the legislature. The other 10% do their time and then get the hell out of there because of all the corruption and stupidity.
This aptly describes my experience in the legislature, in large part.
The war against women is in full swing, male sex offenders being transferred to women’s prisons is just one data point.
One day we will have the courage in Juneau to insist that reasonable protections for women and girls are put into law.
One day, our governor will make this a top priority.
One day, our legislators will as well. Kudos to those who took a stand for women.
Courage. It is one of the rarest commodities in Juneau. We will need a lot more for the fight ahead.
During the Trump administration we had a very strong #MeToo movement. They gathered on the steps of the Legislative Building protesting for women’s rights. Now, we’re trying to protect young girls’ rights to not have to compete against biological men. #MeToo is eerily silent on this matter, guess they already served their purpose.
#MeToo was a phony movement by and for dumb women to show how dumb there were. Smart women turned their back on that stupid movement. Fortunately, there are more smart women than dumb ones, and I’m thankful for that.
Problem is, why is this common sense thing even an issue?
David Eastman, thank you for your vote for HB183. It was nice to see Republicans stick together for once and actually represent their districts. Even Ortiz realized how the majority of Ketchikan feels about girls having to compete against boys. Way to go!
This is a conversation we are going to keep having, so I hope Stedman and Giessel and the rest of the ‘hide from conservative issues’ Rs in the Senate think about this.
Just wanted to say thanks for sticking together and a major shout out to Ms Tilton for not folding. We are all grateful!
Another solution in search of a problem. These types of decisions should be left up to local school boards than a one size fits all dictate.