Utah lawmakers override governor’s veto, enacting transgender sports ban
veto of a bill barring transgender girls from participating in female-designated sports.The House of Representatives voted 56-18 to override the veto, with the Senate voting 21-8 soon afterward.
Four Republican lawmakers had needed to switch their initial votes to support the override. In the end, all but two Republicans in each chamber did reports the Deseret News.Rep.
Kera Birkeland (R-Morgan), who previously proposed a commission to determine transgender athletes’ eligibility, urged her fellow lawmakers to support the override, even though the final version of the bill was not what she had initially proposed.
She said action was necessary to ensure fairness in women’s sports.“When we don’t act and we just go with the status quo, we just do more harm to both transgender youth and women athletes,” she said.In addition to the veto override, lawmakers announced a special session, called by the governor, to make changes to the legislation to address concerns about the financial liability of individual school districts and the Utah High School Activities Association, which regulates high school sports in the state, in case the law is challenged in court.Under the most recent version of the bill, if a lawsuit challenges the law, it will trigger the creation of a seven-person commission — with six of the members being named by legislative leaders and the governor — comprised of a sports physiologist, a board-certified physician, a mental health professional, an athletic trainer, and one coach or interscholastic official appointed by the presiding state athletic association.
