'These are biological males' Alaska state rep says Title IX doesn't apply to trans kids

An Alaska bill criticized for weaponizing civil rights law against transgender girls has moved closer to becoming law after being approved by the state House Judiciary Committee last week.

Proposed by Republican state Representative Jamie Allard, the legislation aims to ban transgender students from participating in K-12 sports teams. If signed off by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the Final Frontier will join 24 other states with similar legislation.

While anti-trans legislation is gaining in popularity across the nation, pediatric sports medicine physicians and health services researchers continue to raise concerns about the ban’s impact on the health of transgender youth, in a report published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Opponents of the ban, including state Rep. Andrew Gray (D-Anchorage), introduced an amendment to the bill stating that transgender and gender-nonconforming people would have the same constitutional rights and protections as all other citizens. But that amendment failed, and another one passed that now includes college sports teams in the legislation.

“Are trans people entitled to the same constitutional rights and protections as everyone else?” Gray asked Allard during the committee meeting.

“They don’t when it comes to Title IX,” said Allard, “These are biological males that you’re referencing,” she added.

The U.S. Department of Education interprets Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal funding, as protection for trans students. Allard and other Republicans claim that discrimination happens when trans girls play on female teams at educational institutions.

Iñupiaq Inuit David Leslie, a community member identifying as male, and sipiniq, the Inuit third gender, denounced the Republican lawmaker’s legislation as reinforcing violence against trans people and Alaskan natives.

“This bill is not only transphobic but also racist to our traditional Alaska native cultures [who] had many genders outside the binary, and they had very important roles,” added Leslie.

Alexander Rosales, a U.S. servicemember from Eagle River, testified in support of the bill. Referring to his military experience, he said, “They had an issue with trying to get women into the Army Rangers because they weren’t able to perform physically, and they had to lower the standards for that.”

More: Supreme Court, in an emergency order, lets Idaho enforce ban on transgender care

In public testimony, Anchorage lawyer and minister Rebecca Bernard said the bill represents a more significant problem. “This disrespectful refusal to acknowledge trans women exposes that what’s really going on with this bill is a belief that being trans isn’t or shouldn’t be real, and therefore trans people don’t have rights.”

Democratic state Rep. Cliff Groh downplayed GOP concerns and reminded the committee of the state’s potential for expensive lawsuits, agreeing with most of the 38 people who testified against the bill.

“I do not see the problem this legislation is supposedly intended to aim at as a substantial problem facing our state,” added the Anchorage representative.

After a final review by legislative lawyers, the bill will be sent to the Alaska House of Representatives for a vote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trans kids don't get Title IX benefits says Alaska Rep. Jamie Allard