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Ohio’s House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban transgender girls from school sports and require verification from a doctor if a student’s sex is called into question.<\/p>\n
The provision was a last-minute addition to an unrelated bill that passed in a marathon session late on Wednesday, the first day of Pride month. The bill next goes to a vote in the state Senate when it reconvenes in several months after a recess.<\/p>\n
The Ohio House’s Republican majority took a similar step last year but that effort ultimately failed.<\/p>\n
More than half a dozen states have passed or enacted similar provisions this year alone.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Unlike most of the others, the Ohio measure would require students whose sex is “disputed” to provide a physician’s statement verifying “internal and external reproductive anatomy” and other criteria.<\/p>\n
Ohio schools that violate the proposed rules could face lawsuits.<\/p>\n
These provisions target “a handful of Ohio students and their families who simply want to play sports like everyone else,” LGBTQ rights group Equality Ohio said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Ohio High School Association (OSHAA) has had a transgender policy in place for 10 years during which there have been “fewer than 20 transgender girls approved to play high school girls sports,” according Equality Ohio and OSHAA.<\/p>\n
Conservative Republican proponents of such legislation argue it is necessary to give girls a level playing field in sports.<\/p>\n
Democrats and other opponents say the laws are harmful, unnecessary and unjustly target an already marginalized, vulnerable group.<\/p>\n
Source: REUTERS<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Featured Video\n<\/p>\n\n
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