Utah advances bill forcing trans kids to seek a committee’s approval before playing sports

The Utah House passed a bill this week intended to restrict trans students’ participation in sports, but unlike the copycat legislation introduced all over the United States, this newest proposal has a twist. 

Rather than outright banning trans youth from playing on the team that matches their gender—as most other sports bans do— Utah’s House Bill 11 would create a commission to evaluate whether trans youth can participate in sports on a case-by-case basis. Introduced by Rep. Kera Birkeland, the bill is an attempted compromise after a year of negotiations between conservative lawmakers and advocates who say that trans kids just want to play sports like any other student.

Members of the commission would include a sports physiologist, a doctor specializing in gender identity, a high school coach and a mental health professional, who would be appointed by state leaders. Trans students wishing to participate would have to go before the commission, which would determine their eligibility by looking at physical data like body mass, bone density and hip-to-knee ratio.

Candice Metzler, the executive director of Transgender Education Advocates of Utah, tells Xtra that the bill as it is currently written is the result of a year of complex and emotional negotiations.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress in the year since Rep. Birkeland introduced the original bill, which was just an all out ban, like so many other states, on transgender students,” Metzler says. “We started off in a place where we were clashing, and not really speaking to each other, and that process was slowed down intentionally. And it’s made a huge difference in terms of coming to that conversation with open hearts and open minds and being willing to listen and be vulnerable with each other. 

“The work that has gone on over the last year has been amazing in terms of trying to find some kind of middle space,” she adds.

But advocates are still concerned that the bill imposes stigmatizing restrictions on trans youth, whose bodies and lives are already being policed by everyone from school boards to lawmakers. “While we appreciate efforts to provide a path to play for transgender youth, we are deeply concerned that the bill as drafted will unfairly scrutinize transgender teenage bodies,” says Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, tells Xtra in an email. “Everyone needs to remember, this is not the Olympics.”

Williams says that Equality Utah is continuing to engage with lawmakers on the bill but hopes the legislature takes a more fair and equitable path. “Above all, we want these children to know that they are loved and belong in our schools,” he adds. 

National LGBTQ2S+ advocates say the bill is a response to a non-existent crisis. Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley says that while HB 11 “engages in a more nuanced way than similar legislation in other states,” it still represents a “solution to a fabricated problem.” 

“In states around the country, transgender children have been playing sports consistent with their gender identity for years,” Oakley tells Xtra in an email. “We call on the Utah Senate to refuse to engage with this conversation, which is predicated upon misunderstanding and disapproval of transgender youth. These kids are just kids, and they should be allowed to play.”

HB 11 is, thus far, the only bill of its kind introduced in the U.S., according to Freedom For All Americans (FFAA), which monitors anti-trans legislation in statehouses across the country. At least 10 of these bills have been enacted, with South Dakota’s recent sports ban becoming 2022’s first official anti-trans law.

Rep. Birkeland’s previous attempt at limiting trans sports participation followed the model of legislation in states including Texas and Florida, which ban trans girls from participating in K-12 athletics in accordance with their lived gender. But while the bill made it all the way to the State Senate in 2021, HB 302 died after Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, publicly stated that he would not sign the bill and condemned the effort.

“If you have not spent time with transgender youth, then I would encourage you to pause on this issue,” he said last February. “I’m trying to listen and learn, and again trying to help kids figure out who they are, and to keep them alive.”

Cox has thus far not spoken out about the new bill, although it mandates that the governor would share responsibility for appointing some committee members.

HB 11 isn’t the only bill targeting trans youth in Utah this session. Metzler is also concerned about HB 127, a trans health care ban sponsored by Rep. Rex Shipp, which is also currently pending in the legislature. 

“I think that I used to give a little bit of credit for this being something born out of genuine concern,” they say of the bill. “But at this point, having met with Rep. Shipp and having tried to work on providing some educational content and leaving the door open for more conversations, this seems more like a wedge issue, using vulnerable young people as fundraising, and in terms of legislators scoring political points. That’s what this really has become, if you look at the language.”

Metzler points out that bills like HB 11 and HB 127 have a marked impact on mental health, which they see firsthand in their work as a therapist. Recent research from Stanford University shows that trans adults who had access to gender-affirming health care as teens have better health outcomes than those who were denied treatment.

“All the individuals I’m working with now are speaking up to the toll this is taking on their mental health,” Metzler says. “This population has felt more targeted in the two years than many years before, but it’s been an ongoing stress. It’s time for us to really examine what we’re doing in allowing people to constantly undermine people’s mental health this way.”

While HB 11 is unique in its approach to the subject of trans athletics participation, it is far from the only legislation affecting trans youth in the U.S. this year. After an unprecedented surge in anti-trans bills in 2021, lawmakers have introduced 18 new anti-trans health care bans this year and 25 new sports bans. Accounting for proposals which have rolled over from previous sessions, 27 medical care and 44 sports bills are currently under consideration, according to FFAA. 

More than 100 pieces of anti-LGBTQ2S+ legislation have been introduced in state legislatures across the U.S. this year. Tennessee, Florida and Ohio have all introduced “Don’t Say Gay” bills, which restrict schools’ ability to teach LGBTQ2S+ topics in the classroom. Four U.S. states—Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas—already have “No Promo Homo” laws on the books banning inclusive curricula. 

Florida’s version of the bill, which would prohibit teachers from discussing gender identity and sexuality in primary schools, is currently making its way through its House and Senate after receiving committee approval in both chambers. The legislation is expected to pass, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he will sign it.