A bill that would ban transgender women from collegiate sports passed out of the Indiana Senate Education and Career Development committee Wednesday, with amendments proposed by Democratic committee members voted down by Republican members.
State Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, authored House Bill 1041, prohibiting a male, based on the student’s biological sex at birth, from participating on a women’s athletic team. The bill also allows for a student or parent to file a grievance if a college isn’t following the law.
Davis testified before the Senate committee last week that House Bill 1041 mirrors, in language and bill title, the piece of legislation the legislature passed in 2022 banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports at the K-12 level, but it extends it to the collegiate level.
“House Bill 1041 ensures fairness in collegiate sports, which is essential to protecting opportunities for our female athletes here in Indiana,” Davis said. “House Bill 1041 helps maintain a level playing field.”
Davis testified that she was at the White House in February when President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.
The day after Trump signed the executive order, the National Collegiate Athletic Association amended its transgender athlete policy to limit competition in women’s sports to student-athletes assigned female at birth. NCAA President Charlie Baker recently testified before a U.S. Senate committee that fewer than 10 student athletes were transgender.
Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, proposed an amendment that would strip the bill and would’ve made it unlawful to pay women and men differently for the same job.
“If we are trying to protect our students in sports, let’s not ignore the idea that they should be paid equally,” Qaddoura said. “If that’s truly about equal treatment based on sex, and that’s what I heard the author say, then why not also protect their wages?”
Education and Career Development Committee Chairman Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, said he did not support the amendment because “it’s very substantive, and this isn’t the place to do it.”
Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, proposed amendments that would’ve allowed only students who were deprived of an athletic opportunity or directly or indirectly injured to file a grievance; allowed college officials to discipline students who filed a report in bad faith; prohibited student athletes from being required, as part of resolving a grievance submitted, to expose their genitals or intimate body parts to resolve the grievance; and allowed civil action if a college required a student to expose intimate body parts to resolve a grievance.
All amendments failed with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans voting against.
Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said with the amendments failing, the bill doesn’t offer protections against a college athlete from having to reveal intimate parts of their bodies to prove their biological sex.
Sen. Stacey Donato, who is one of the Senate sponsors of the bill, said the bill doesn’t state that an athlete would have to show their body parts.
“I disagree with your interpretation on that,” Donato, R-Logansport, said.
Last week, 17 people testified before the committee on the bill, and the majority of those who spoke were against the bill.
The bill passed out of committee 9-4, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats voting against it.
akukulka@post-trib.com
