Utah’s Republican governor vetoes trans sport ban bill: “Please be kind to everyone”
Utah Governor Spencer Cox cited suicide rates among transgender youth as one of his reasons for vetoing a Republican-backed sports ban bill.
House Bill 11 would have seen trans girls banned from participating in school sports teams that align with their gender identity, something he called a flawed measure with an array of legal and financial risks. “Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports.
That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something.
Four kids trying to get through each day,” he wrote in a letter to Utah’s Senate president and House speaker. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few.” The governor, who is also a Republican, referenced data showing that just four out of 75,000 kids playing high school sports were transgender.
