Iowa’s Ashley Hinson backs vote to ban transgender student-athletes from girls’ sports

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion praised passage of a House GOP-led bill that would bar transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports at schools and institutions receiving federal funds as a victory for protecting the “integrity of girls’ sports.”

Supporters say the legislation strengthens existing protections for women and ensures a level playing field for female athletes. Opponents argue the bill co-opts the language of women’s rights to deny transgender students equal access to athletic opportunities.

“I believe female athletes who are passionate about their sports and train and practice hard should have the opportunity to compete on a fair playing field,” Hinson said Thursday during a conference call with reporters. “Ignoring the biological differences between men and women and allowing biological boys to compete against girls is unfair, and it sets the progress made in women's athletics and girls sports back 50 years.”

Hinson also praised a federal judge’s ruling in Kentucky that blocked Democratic President Joe Biden’s effort to expand protections for transgender students and make other changes to the rules governing sex discrimination in schools by expanding the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.

She also thanked Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who in 2022 signed a sate law prohibiting school athletic programs from allowing individuals whose biological sex at birth was male to participate in programs that are for women or girls.

  Buy Photo

Approved almost entirely along party lines, the U.S. House bill would prohibit federal funding from going to a school or institution “who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities” that allows transgender students to participate on women’s or girl’s sports teams. It would also amend federal law to say that “sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. Seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to move it past a filibuster to a final vote.

Democrats have called the legislation a dangerous invasion of privacy for young girls. They warn that it could expose them to questioning and inspection of their bodies and fuel more hate against a small and vulnerable population of transgender children that already faces higher rates of bullying and mental health issues.

“Every kid should be able to play sports,” U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told The New York Times. “This is a mean, cruel, bullying tactic.”

All four of Iowa's congressional representatives voted for the House bill Tuesday.

“For years, the radical left has waged an all-out assault on women’s sports and spaces,” southeast Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said in a statement. “I will not stand by while they undermine the integrity of female athletics. Our daughters deserve a fair and level playing field, and this bill ensures they get it.”

  Buy Photo

Miller-Meeks hosted Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and anti-transgender activist, at her annual political fundraiser last fall. Gaines shared her own experiences competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, and drew attention to California's San Jose State University volleyball team, which had recently played at the University of Iowa.

The team has received national scrutiny for a transgender player who was allowed to compete after a federal appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling in a federal lawsuit filed by other players requesting that she be kept off the court.

The ruling has become part of a national debate about fairness in women's sports and whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete on teams that align with their gender identity.

Tariffs

Hinson also was asked Thursday about a group of House Democrats introducing a bill to stop the incoming administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump from using emergency powers to enact tariffs.

Hinson said she believes tariffs should be a last resort, but that Trump “needs to have every tool in the toolbox coming in in this administration.”

“I think the most important thing is that we do not tie the incoming administration's hands to make us competitive on the global stage,” she said.

Hinson will again serve on the China Select Committee in the House.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure we continue to be competitive, not only with policy, but with those additional trade tactics that we might have in our toolbox,” she said.

Trump’s inauguration

Asked about Trump’s upcoming inauguration and the message he sends to the American people, Hinson said she expects Trump will “speak very clearly about American strength.”

“I believe he's going to lay out an agenda that's very, very bold in terms of making our country safe again, making our country prosperous again, and making the American people successful again,” she said. “And so I think as we welcome several hundred Iowans out for the inauguration, Iowans are cheering the president on. And you look at President Biden's farewell address last night, he chose to continue to fear monger, even though his approval rating in the country is at an all-time low in the 30 percent range. So I think it's very, very clear the contrast not only out of this election, but what we will hear from President Trump on Monday.”

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com