GOP seizes on measures barring trans athletes
Republicans are increasingly backing measures to ban transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports teams, seizing on a social issue that resonates with conservatives but that civil rights groups and the LGBTQ community say is discriminatory and harmful.
The GOP support for the ban was on full display Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the House-passed Equality Act, which included two possible 2024 presidential hopefuls.
“You know who has run faster than FloJo? Seventy-six high school boys in America in 2019 alone,” Sen. Tom Cotton
Tom Bryant CottonGOP looks to measures barring trans athletes to rally voters On The Money: Details on timing of the ,400 stimulus payments Tom Cotton: Chamber of Commerce is ‘a front service for woke corporations’ MORE (R-Ak.) said at the hearing, invoking the fastest female track and field athlete in history Florence Griffith Joyner.
“Why is it that women’s sports, women’s opportunities in athletics, the opportunities of young girls to compete on a fair and equal basis will be so severely impacted by this law?” asked Sen. Josh Hawley
Joshua (Josh) David HawleyGOP looks to measures barring trans athletes to rally voters Senate GOP seeks ruling on Biden limits on border wall funding Top 5 Republican presidential contenders, and 2 on the way out MORE (R-Mo.).
Republican lawmakers in 20 states have introduced legislation that would regulate transgender athletes’ participation in women’s and girls’ sports, even as President Biden
Joe BidenThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Forget about comity in Congress Border surge scrambles Senate immigration debate GOP looks to measures barring trans athletes to rally voters MORE and Democrats seek to boost protections for the LGBTQ community, including signing an executive order his first day in office prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in schools and other venues.
Former President Trump
Donald TrumpBorder surge scrambles Senate immigration debate GOP looks to measures barring trans athletes to rally voters House GOP holdouts muddle Trump vaccine message MORE gave the issue an even bigger platform when he spent several minutes during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month musing about how many women’s records had recently been broken – even though none of the record-breakers were transgender women – and saying Republicans “must protect the integrity of women’s sports.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
Kristi Lynn NoemGOP looks to measures barring trans athletes to rally voters Top 5 Republican presidential contenders, and 2 on the way out Fundraising spat points to Trump-GOP fissures MORE (R ), another potential 2024 contender, tweeted last week she was “excited” to sign such a bill after it passed the state legislature, and that “In South Dakota, we’re celebrating #InternationalWomensDay by defending women’s sports!” She later said she was still considering whether to sign the legislation.
Republican leaders say their goal is to protect women and girls. But leaders in the LGBTQ community says the measures are harmful, political and based on misinformation.
“What this is is the latest iteration of Republicans trying to figure out how to exploit the lack of information on trans people for their political benefit, political benefit of Republicans on the ballot,” transgender writer and activist Charlotte Clymer told The Hill.
“We live in an era of disinformation,” she continued. “Although elections are the central component of that whole story, it’s marginalized communities who are affected by this era of disinformation, especially trans people.”
“Even though trans people enjoy overwhelming support in public polling, there’s still a widespread misunderstanding on trans health care and trans identity in general,” Clymer added.
At a time when Republicans are mulling how to turn out Trump supporters without the former president on the ballot – and how to push back against a broadly popular Democratic coronavirus relief package – polling shows the majority of Trump’s supporters share his attitude on the issue.
A Politico/Morning Consult survey released last week showed that 63 percent of voters who voted for Trump in 2020 said they would “strongly support” a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, while another 13 percent of his 2020 backers said they would “somewhat support” a ban.
Among evangelical Christians, a key part of Trump’s base, 50 percent said they “strongly supported” such a ban, while 17 percent said they “somewhat supported” it.
The survey also showed relatively broad support for the bans among Americans. Fifty-nine percent of men and 46 percent of women polled said they supported the ban. Along party lines, 74 percent of Republicans said they supported a ban, while 40 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of Independents agreed.
“This is an issue that…