The South Carolina House of Representatives passed the “Save Women’s Sports Bill” 82-28 on Tuesday, despite the 1,000 amendments offered by the Democrats and a marathon debate stretching for eight hours.
The Republican House majority passed the bill about 9:15 pm on Tuesday - after a tornado concern, the chamber evacuated.
The bill still has to proceed to the Senate, which is Republican-run, for consideration before being enacted. The bill means athletes must compete as the gender they are born with, not the gender they identify as.
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Many states have attempted to pass bills prohibiting transgender athletes in 2021, as the topic gained traction after UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, 22, made headlines after winning the 500-yard freestyle in Atlanta in a time of 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds.
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Many critics slammed her, saying she had a biological advantage against the other women as she competed as a man for three colligate years. Thomas did, however, compete within the NCAA rules and had been on hormone therapy for over a year.
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Since the end of the NCAA championship, several states have voiced their concern over the future of women’s sports and trans-female athletes.
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Republican Speaker Jay Lucas tossed out nearly 600 amendment proposals on Tuesday, saying they were almost the same with only small changes like altering the names of schools in each proposal.
After those rulings, Democrats pulled down even more, with the writer of most of the changes saying bringing the House to a halt for several hours was a victory.
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“Today we saw so many of my colleagues stand up for people who do not often have a voice,” said Representative John King, a Democrat from Rock Hill.
Bill sponsor Representative Ashley Trantham did take the podium just before the vote, praising the people who have fought for two years to get the bill passed in South Carolina. It failed in a House committee in 2021. “It is because of your actions that South Carolina is one step closer to saving women’s sports,” the Republican from Pelzer said.
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Democrats said Republicans should be ashamed for singling out people that much of society already treats badly.
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“Leave these transgender kids alone. There are less than one percent of them,” said Representative Krystle Matthews, a Democrat from Ladson. Some amendments by Democrats would make substantial changes to the bill, like allowing a public high school to opt-out of the requirements or requiring women’s sports to have the same number of assistant coaches or amenities as men’s teams.
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