Compass Gender: Arizona Votes to Ban Trans Athletes From Women’s Sports

Arizona Representative Nancy Barto (R-15) is sponsoring the Save Women’s Sports Act. (Gage Skidmore - Flickr)

The Arizona House of Representatives voted 31-29 to restrict transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports on March 3. The bill, officially the Save Women's Sports Act, would bar male-born individuals from competing in interscholastic or intramural leagues designated female, regardless of the student’s current gender identity. 

Advocates argue that keeping trans athletes out is necessary to keep women’s leagues fair, pointing to biological differences between the sexes. “Men are stronger,” said Arizona Representative Nancy Barto (R-15), who sponsored the bill. Cisgender women, she argued, should not have to compete with athletes assigned male at birth for titles and scholarships.

In its original form, the bill would have forced student athletes whose gender was called into question to prove their birth sex through testing of their DNA and testosterone levels, as well as an examination of their “internal and external reproductive anatomy.” The latter element drew special outrage, with one parent calling it “child abuse.” In response, Barto loosened the medical requirements to only include a DNA test.

The bill leaves many questions unanswered, such as exactly who can dispute an athlete’s gender and under what circumstances. Cisgender students, critics have argued, could also be targeted by disgruntled competitors, forcing them to undergo genetic testing. Considering that the bill does not clarify who would have to pay for the DNA test, which could cost up to $1,000 out-of-pocket, opponents have taken serious issue with the lack of specificity. 

Critics are skeptical that Barto and the bill’s supporters are primarily concerned with the fairness of women’s sports leagues. Lizette Trujillo, parent to a transgender child attending school in Arizona, argued, “It’s just another way to force trans children out and to prevent them from being able to participate safely in their classrooms and in school activities.”

The bill comes as part of a flood of state-level pushes targeting trans people in recent months. Currently, the LGBTQ advocacy organization Freedom for all Americans is tracking 50 bills it deems “anti-transgender,” many of which are copycats of the Arizona bill. Though most of the proposed steps have gained little traction, they indicate a nationwide trend that could result in rollbacks of the rights of transgender citizens.