Dan Maccay: Last News

original version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Morgan), sought to avoid a full-scale ban on transgender athletes like the one rejected last year by Utah lawmakers while ensuring that cisgender females are not disadvantaged by competing against transgender females who have a physiological advantage over them.To that end, Birkeland’s bill would have created a seven-person panel — comprised of six members appointed by the president of the State Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the governor — including: a sports physiologist, a board-certified physician, a mental health professional, and an athletic trainer — and one coach or interscholastic official appointed by the presiding state athletic association.The commission would then determine, on a case-by-case basis, an individual student’s eligibility, based on their personal physical characteristics, for competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.