Minnesota House Republicans rally support for 68 votes needed to pass trans athlete bill
House Republicans say they are proposing the bill, HF 12, to ensure sports for elementary, middle and high school female athletes are fair.
Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, is authoring the bill because she said she wants to revert amateur sports back to how they were when she played as a girl, when her teams included no openly trans athletes.
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'It's called common sense. The girls in my school never had to consider the injustice of a male taking our place on the team, or the prospect of serious injury that could come while competing against a stronger, bigger male,' Scott said at the rally. 'My generation benefitted from the common sense that girls and boys should have their own teams, and I'm so thankful for that.'
House Republicans currently have a majority, 67-66, but they cannot pass bills on their own — a bill needs 68 votes to pass. Democrats say they will not vote for the proposal, so it won't pass Monday.
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House Republicans, emboldened by the 2024 election and the anti-trans rhetoric and executive actions coming out of the Trump administration, have moved to pare back the rights of trans Minnesotans. They've also proposed a bill to ban transgender inmates from the state's only women's prison and another making the 'castration or sterilization of minors' a felony.
Democrats, in a Capitol press conference after the Republican rally, said the bill is political theater and an effort to eliminate trans people from public life.
'Transgender students participate in sports for the same reasons as everyone else — to challenge ourselves, to improve our fitness, to be a part of a team and most of all to have fun,' said Chris Mosier, an advocate who was the first openly trans athlete to represent the U.S. in an international competition. 'Excluding trans students from participation deprives us of the opportunities available to our peers, and it sends the message that we are not worthy of full and social lives, and we will not allow that to happen here in Minnesota.'
The Republican rally, organized by the America First Policy Institute, featured conservative activist Riley Gaines, who has advocated against trans athletes since she tied for fifth place with a trans swimmer in 2022.
Gaines criticized Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic lawmakers for supporting trans athletes.
'(They) are willing to send the message and do everything in their power to say, 'Look, we will put all Minnesotans at risk because we believe boys deserve to trample on girls,'' Gains said at the rally. 'Minnesota, for too long, has turned its back on women and girls … You cannot protect the rights of girls to play fair and safe sports and also protect the boy who wants to take their place on the team.'
Gaines arrived at the rally with a security entourage of Minnesota sheriff's deputies and former Minneapolis Police Chief Bob Kroll.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota a letter last month alerting officials that the state could be sued after Democratic officials said they would not comply with Trump's executive order.
Since their election loss, Democrats have been grappling with how to support trans Americans playing sports when the majority of Americans side with Republicans on the issue. A January New York Times poll found that 94% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats believed transgender women should not compete in women's sports.
Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul and the state's first openly transgender lawmaker, said Monday that states that have passed trans sports bans have failed to provide examples of trans girls participating in youth sports, and the issue hasn't been a problem in Minnesota.
'This problem simply does not exist. It is manufactured,' Finke said. 'We've had zero problems, but we are doing this for political reasons, and when you lie about a community for long enough, people will believe it.'
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota Republicans propose bill to ban transgender athletes
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