Utah Sen. Mike Lee is leading a piece of legislation that would ban transgender girls from playing in women's sports at schools.
Sen. Mike Lee introduced the bill along with 13 other republican colleagues last week. He said it would protect “opportunities of girls throughout America to athletically compete against other girls.”
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney also spoke out against transgender girls playing on women’s sports teams during a Senate Committee meeting last week.
“I've got pictures of my eight granddaughters amongst grandsons behind me,” Romney said. “They shouldn't be competing with people who are physiologically in an entirely different category.”
Lee’s legislation comes after President Joe Biden passed an executive order banning any discrimination based off of gender or sexuality.
A number of bills have been introduced in state legislatures as well. Some of the states included are Oklahoma, Montana and Texas.
Summit County Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland also filed a bill earlier this month. In an interview with KPCW Birkeland said the purpose of the bill is to create a safe space for women. The bill heads to its first committee meeting Thursday.
A similar bill was passed in the Idaho legislature last year but was later overturned by a federal judge.
