Montana Republicans target transgender youth in two new bills

In response to the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw protections for transgender students in public schools, the community rallied outside Stonewall Inn to stand up for trans youth.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Montana is preparing to consider two bills that target trans youth.

House Bills 112 and 113 would ban student athletes from participating in sports as their gender and prevent minors from receiving health care related to gender transition, respectively.

Related: Montana Attorney General begs Chick-fil-A to open franchises there to protect religious freedom

Both were proposed by state Rep. John D. Fuller (R). The bills have been submitted as drafts, introduced in the Montana Legislature, revised, and referred to the Judiciary Committee.

Yellowstone Public Radio reported that both bills would be considered in hearings scheduled for today, January 13. However, the hearings have since been “canceled” via the Legislature’s website, although conference calls remain scheduled. It’s unclear why they were canceled and if there are plans for rescheduling the hearings.

Chase Strangio, the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s LGBT & HIV Project, said that the hearings would amount to the first “hearings on dangerous anti-trans bills in 2021.”

H.B. 112, which calls for “An Act Creating the ‘Save Women’s Sports Act,’” is “a carbon copy of Idaho’s HB 500” according to Strangio. H.B. 500 of Idaho is a similarly-named ‘Save Women’s Sports Act’ proposal that passed, but is currently blocked from being enacted by a federal court’s injunction.

Like the Idaho law, the proposal calls for “public school athletic teams to be designated based on biological sex” and would allow for cisgender athletes to seek damages from schools that allow trans students to compete as their gender identity, due to the “direct or indirect” harm that would purportedly cause.

Fuller “felt compelled to introduce the legislation because…

Read full story, and more, from Source: Montana Republicans target transgender youth in two new bills

Share

About Gay Today

Editor of Gay Today