Statewide Iowa — A bill that would limit participation in Iowa girls sports to athletes who have female marked on their birth certificate has cleared the House Education Committee.
Representative Skyler Wheeler, a Republican from Orange City, says similar legislation has passed in other states.
Representative Mary Mascher, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the legislature’s job is to protect transgender girls and make sure they’re treated fairly.
Mascher and six other Democrats on the committee voted against the bill. All 14 Republicans present voted for it and the bill is now eligible for debate in the full House. Governor Reynolds called on the Republican-led legislature to take action on this issue last April.
The executive director of Iowa Safe Schools says studies have shown no conclusive link between sex assigned at birth and sporting outcomes and the bill will put educators, school districts, and students in an impossible situation.
