XPost: or.politics, talk.politics.guns, alt.transgendered   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: gay-degenerate-diseases@ab-inbev.com   
      
   Alaskan lawmakers exchanged emotional and often combative statements for   
   more than 17 hours over the weekend regarding an anti-trans bill that would   
   limit student participation in sports teams. The bill was ultimately passed   
   by the Alaska House of Representatives late Sunday evening.   
      
   Members of the Democratic minority introduced several amendments to the bill   
   last week, which had 88 introduced, and made various motions to prevent its   
   advancement as members of the House pulled weekend shifts. The bill passed   
   the House with a 22 to 18 majority.   
      
   The new law would require students to play on teams that correspond to their   
   sex at birth. A similar ban already exists for Alaska’s high schools, which   
   was implemented after Republican Governor Dunleavy-appointed board members   
   voted in June 2023.   
      
   “If you would like to set this precedent of just tabling minority amendments   
   because you do not like them, you will reap the seeds that you sow for years   
   to come, Madam Speaker,” said Democratic state House Minority Leader Calvin   
   Schrage. “I’m going to vote no because the underlying bill is such a   
   steaming pile of [expletive],” said Schrage before House Chair Cathy Tilton   
   interrupted his rebuke, telling Schrage to sit down.   
      
   Several Democrats expressed concern about how the bill would be a policy and   
   financial burden on schools to determine students’ sex at birth. They also   
   said it would inevitably require the state to breach its own privacy laws.   
   In addition, they argued that the legislation would open schools and the   
   state to lawsuits regarding equal protection and Title IX, a federal   
   constitutional law that applies to state-funded educational institutions.   
      
   Republican state Rep. Jamie Allard, the bill’s sponsor, defended the bill,   
   saying that the bill’s interpretation of biological sex at birth is based on   
   science and doesn’t discriminate. She offered an amendment to the bill’s   
   language last week to apply to children’s hormone profiles and “non-   
   ambiguous sex organs” in an apparent accommodation to children who were born   
   intersex.   
      
   “I’ve talked to other lawyers who reviewed this, and -on its face- this   
   legislation just flat-out violates the equal protection clause of Alaska’s   
   Constitution,” said Democratic state Rep. Andy Josephson.   
      
   “There could be lawsuits and litigation and inspections of birth   
   certificates, and this is a six-year-old, now—that—is government   
   overreach,”   
   said Josephson before the bill was put to a vote on May 12.   
      
   In closing remarks before legislators voted on the bill, Allard said that   
   the Democratic minority was pushing a false narrative. “They are saying this   
   bill provides for a general inspection of genitalia. Wow, Madam Speaker.   
   That’s gross, that is absolutely insane,” as she implied that legislators   
   in   
   the opposing Democratic minority were misrepresenting the facts.   
      
   “The narrative that is being put out to all Alaskans across this great state   
   is trying to do a scare tactic. Nowhere in this two-and-a-half-page bill   
   does it say anything about genitalia exams. That is just not true,” added   
   Allard.   
      
   Allard did not further clarify how schools would deal with the new state   
   requirement to segregate students based on “non-ambiguous sex organs.” Many   
   from the opposition argued that all states don’t have conforming laws on how   
   birth certificates can be changed, updated, or replaced after birth and that   
   schools would have difficulty aligning policy actions.   
      
   Democratic state Rep. Jennie Armstrong pointed out that cisgender girls, or   
   girls who are not transgender, could be subject to unnecessary scrutiny over   
   their biological sex in sports disputes. An amendment to limit the   
   legislation to students in the eighth grade and above, she said that it   
   would be unfair to young children to make them undergo inquiries from a   
   panel of adults trying to identify if they are transgender.   
      
   “I’m a fan of sex ed, Madam Speaker, but I think it needs to be age-   
   appropriate, and I think that we’re taking some really inappropriate and   
   really adult conversations and trying to apply them to kindergartners,” said   
   Armstrong, who identifies as pansexual and authored many of the opposing   
   amendments over the course of the last few months.   
      
   Armstrong acknowledged that the bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate, but   
   emphasized the importance of sending a message to Alaskans about which side   
   of history they want to be on.   
      
   “The vote is futile debate, and the remarks made on this floor today are not   
   about whether or not we want to see this bill become law. But about the   
   legacy that we each choose to leave behind on this issue,” Armstrong added   
   before a passionate disclosure about her own experiences with anti-LGBTQ+   
   propaganda.   
      
   “I want to teach my sons to not only excel in their own athletic achievement   
   in their sport but to respect the dignity of women in theirs. This comes   
   down to the dignity of each individual, and I think we’ve missed that in   
   this conversation, said Republican state Rep. Sarah Vance, a co-sponsor of   
   the bill.   
      
   Independent state Rep. Alyse Galvin opposed the bill, saying, “It breaks my   
   heart. We need to do better at growing more awareness and more understanding   
   that these are people. We need to appreciate that they’re not just victims   
   of hate or the subject of restrictive legislation. They’re people just like   
   you and I who have a very unique frame of reference for living and   
   contributing to our communities.”   
      
   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/14/alaska-   
   lawmakers-pass-bill-segregating-sports-teams-by-sex-at-birth/73668842007/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)