Lane Community College Title IX coordinator Daniel Brown has condemned the US House passing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
In an emailed response to The Torch, Brown stated that it is “very unlikely” that this bill could become law and called the bill “political showmanship, likely in response to the Biden administration’s announcement on modifying the Title IX Final Rule to be more inclusive of transgender athletes.”
He also said that this follows the trend of the Republican party passing legislation across the country that targets transgender individuals, and specifically trans women. As noted in our previous article about this bill, the ACLU is tracking over 460 anti-trans bills in multiple states.
Brown is confident that even if the bill did become law it would “likely face significant legal challenges.”
“The first challenge is that the bill itself discriminates on the basis of sex,” Brown said. “The bill goes to great lengths to misgender trans women as ‘male’ and makes no mention of trans men.”
Section 2 of the amendment states: “It shall be a violation of subsection (a) for a recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.” The entire focus of the bill is keeping trans women out of women and girls sports. Brown clarifies, “It has no such provision for ‘female’ athletes participating in ‘male’ sports. So it seems clearly based solely on animus towards trans women.”
Brown says that another challenge to this bill is that it uses, “an elementary understanding of biology, sex, and gender that a reasonable court may find to be too general or unenforceable.” The bill ignores science on gender, gender identity, and social constructs.
“This bill was passed by Republicans with the full knowledge that it would not survive the political process, nor would it likely survive legal scrutiny,” Brown said “It was seemingly thrown together for the sole purpose of opposing actions to expand trans rights, in order to appease and manipulate a group of misinformed voters.”
Brown referenced a letter sent by LCC President, Dr. Stephanie Bulger, mentioning that Lane is a “diverse and inclusive community where we promote a learning environment that values gender identity safety, wellbeing, and respect.” While this fight continues at the Federal level and in many Republican controlled states, Oregon has passed H.B 2002 through the House. It now moves onto the Senate before it can be signed into law by Governor Kotek.
H.B 2002 expands health care access for those seeking gender affirming care and expands protections for providers of gender affirming and reproductive health care. Congressional Republicans walked out during the session on Wednesday, stalling H.B 2002 and more bills supported by the majority.
