02/26/2020

Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Controversial Bill Related to Ohio High School Sports

It would ban transgender athletes from girls high school sports

Transgender women and girls couldn’t join their schools’ female soccer, field hockey or track teams if the Save Women’s Sports Act introduced Tuesday by two Ohio Republicans becomes law. 

“Girls want the chance to play fair and win by the rules,” Rep. Jena Powell, R-Arcanum, said. “That opportunity is being ripped away from them by biological males competing in the same sport.”

It’s a question high school sports associations across the country have tried to answer in recent years: How to balance the needs, hopes and dreams of all their student athletes in a way that’s fair? The SWS Act would require the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) to block any male-born student from participating in a girls’ sport in both public and private schools. Currently, the OHSAA requires transgender girls to show proof that they’ve been on hormone therapy for at least one year or demonstrate that the student doesn’t have a physiological advantage over other athletes her age.

Please select this link to read the complete article from USA Today.