NC GOP lawmakers say transgender ban will help protect female high school athletes

North Carolina Republican lawmakers are pointing to how a female volleyball player was allegedly injured by a transgender athlete to justify a ban on transgender girls playing on high school girls’ teams.

The “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” filed this week says “athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex.” At a news conference Thursday, bill supporters pointed to a how a transgender athlete reportedly injured a female Cherokee County high school volleyball player with a spike, leaving her with a concussion.

“This is a bill to make sure that Cherokee County doesn’t happen again,” said Sen. Vickie Sawyer, an Iredell County Republican and one of the bill’s primary sponsors.

For athletic eligibility purposes, the legislation says “a student’s sex shall be recognized based solely on the student’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

All 30 Senate Republicans and at least 42 of the 72 House Republicans have signed on to the legislation. Rep. Tricia Cotham’s defection to the Republican Party this week means that the GOP has a legislative supermajority that can pass any bill over the objections of Democrats. As of mid-day Thursday, Cotham had not signed on as a sponsor of the bill.

“Having biological males compete against biological females will destroy women’s sports and if we don’t step in that is likely to occur,” Senate leader Phil Berger told The News & Observer on Thursday. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get that bill passed.”

It’s among a series of bills filed this week by GOP lawmakers that would impact services for transgender youth.

The legislation has been called hateful by LGBTQ+ groups.

“These legislators know this is a totally manufactured issue — and that transgender youth have played sports consistent with their gender identity in NC for a long time, hurting no one,” Allison Scott, director of impact and innovation at the Campaign for Southern Equality, said in a statement. “This legislation won’t solve any actual problems, but it will create a flood of them, stigmatizing a small number of students and targeting them for exclusion and ‘other-ing.’”

Former UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell backs bill

During the press conference, lawmakers and retired coaches Sylvia Hatchell and Sherry Norris spoke for the legislation.

Hatchell, who used to be UNC-Chapel Hill’s women’s basketball coach, argued that it’s not a level playing field to have female athletes compete against transgender athletes. She said it goes against the spirit of Title IX, which was enacted to increase opportunities for female athletes.

“Females having to compete against transgenders is not fair and equal,” Hatchell said. “Is there a place for transgenders in sports? Yes there is, but it’s a separate category.”

Hatchell resigned as UNC’s basketball coach in 2019 amid a university investigation into allegations she had made racially insensitive comments.

After the press conference, lawmakers posed for photos with Hatchell.

Nationwide push to ban transgender athletes

The legislation is among a wave of bills being filed across the nation targeting transgender athletes.

At least 20 states have banned transgender athlete participation in some fashion, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

Kansas became the latest state this week when Republican lawmakers overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of legislation banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

North Carolina Republican lawmakers proposed a bill in 2021 to prevent transgender girls from playing on female sports teams, but it was ultimately thrown out because there were no examples of it actually being a problem.

‘Handful’ of transgender athletes

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s current policy allows students to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

Since 2019, there have been 18 requests from member schools for transgender athletes to play sports, said NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker. Only one was denied. The NCHSAA does not know how many of those transgender athletes, if any, are currently playing.

Even if only a “handful” of transgender athletes are playing in North Carolina high schools, Sawyer said it’s still a concern.

“Ask that young woman in Cherokee County if this is a big deal as she was slammed to the floor when a volleyball hit her neck and she went to the hospital,” Sawyer said.

Norris, who used to coach women’s basketball and women’s volleyball at Chapel Hill High School, said the incident last fall left the Cherokee County high school student with a concussion and neurological damage.

After the incident, the Cherokee County school board voted to forfeit all girls volleyball games against that high school in Macon County.

“Transgender participation in middle school and high school sports should be denied,” Norris said. “It is not an equal playing field. The difference in the strength and the size of males when compared to females creates a lot of advantages and it is a safety issue.”

Girls can’t play football?

Under the legislation, men’s teams won’t be open to female students unless there is no comparable female team for a particular sport and that sport isn’t a contact sport.

The legislation would prevent girls from playing on football teams and in wrestling. Sawyer said that was not the intention of the bill and that it could be amended to allow women to play on men’s teams.

Sawyer and other GOP lawmakers say the bill will help provide a fair playing field for female athletes.

“Why are we putting women’s sports under attack?” Sawyer said. “This bill is not against anybody. But it is for all women.... It is for the health and the safety and the ability for a woman to wear that medal on her chest.”

Charlotte Observer reporter Langston Wertz Jr. and NC Insider freelancer Kyle Ingram contributed to this report.