Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg on July 26, 2023. Amanda Berg
Members of the Republican minority in the state House tried to force a vote on a bill that would ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports in public schools and publicly funded colleges.
But, Democrats on the House Education Committee blocked them.
The bill had already passed the GOP-controlled Senate, with five Democrats joining every Republican in supporting it. After crossing over to the Democratic-controlled House, the bill stalled in the Education Committee.
The maneuver House Republicans used to try to force a vote is called a discharge resolution, which allows 25 lawmakers to petition to have a bill forced out of committee after it’s sat for 15 session days.
But Democrats on the panel re-referred the measure to the House Health Committee, effectively resetting the clock and avoiding a vote on the proposal itself.
The vote to re-refer it passed on party lines, 14-12. Nine Republicans spoke against the move to effectively block a vote on the bill, framing the underlying issue as a matter of “safety,” and portraying Democrats’ move as a way to stop debate.
“It’s time we stand with our female athletes in Pennsylvania,” said Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), minority chair of the committee. “They not only deserve a fair shot on the field, I believe they’ve earned a fair vote and a full vote on the House floor.”
Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh), chair of the Education Committee, said in a statement that he opposes the bill, and it belongs in the Health Committee instead of his own.
“I will never support legislation that targets any at-risk community, including our LGBTQIA+ neighbors,” Schweyer said. “Simply stated, SB 9 would make school harder for kids already facing serious and severe bullying.”
Defending the decision to push the bill out of his panel, Schweyer added, “SB 9 would not add one teacher to the classroom, repair one broken school building air conditioner, buy one new textbook, or help one kid get into college or find a good paying job.”
The push to vote on the measure comes after the University of Pennsylvania agreed to ban transgender athletes from participating in gendered sports earlier this month, following pressure from the Trump administration. As it stands, 27 states have bans on transgender athletes participating in school sports.
Until February, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association allowed transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports, but changed the rules to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear cases over bans in West Virginia and Idaho last week.
Corinne Goodwin, chair of the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, said that transgender athletes, like all students, benefit from participation in school sports.
“When they participate in school sports, our youth learn important lessons including how to win with dignity, how to lose with grace, how to support their teammates, and how to play by the rules,” Goodwin wrote in a statement.
She added moves to ban transgender athletes from school sports can have negative impacts on all students, and the anti-transgender rhetoric that can accompany these efforts has had damaging effects on the health of transgender Pennsylvanians.
“As an example of how this has had an impact, calls/contacts to our info and referral line have increased by over 100% this year as has attendance at the community support groups,” they added. “People – especially parents of transgender youth – are concerned not only about their mental health, but for their physical safety.”
