Rep. Davids News Release

Hello from the State Capitol,

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the State of Minnesota for violating Title IX protections that ensure fairness and safety for female student athletes. Minnesota currently allows biologically born boys who identify as a girl to participate in girls’ athletics.

To help solve this problem, the Minnesota House recently voted on the “Preserving Girls Sports Act” that would prevent boys in Minnesota from playing in girls’ sports. I voted yes on the bill.

If you were born as a boy, you should be playing on a boys’ sports team. This has nothing to do with banning kids from sports, but it has everything to do with ensuring that girls are not forced to play against boys.

Specifically, the House bill states that only students of the female sex may participate in an elementary or secondary school athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted on the basis of sex to women or girls. If there is a dispute, a student must present a signed physician’s statement indicating the student’s sex is based solely on the student’s internal and external anatomy, natural occurring level of testosterone, and an analysis of the student’s chromosomes.

There’s a fairness issue and a safety issue at play here for our girl athletes, and it saddens me that not one lawmaker on the other side of the aisle could recognize that.

The bill received a full vote of the Minnesota House on April 7. All 67 Republicans voted for the proposal, and all 66 Democrats voted against it. Because 68 votes are needed for legislation to be approved in the Minnesota House, the Preserving Girls Sports Act failed to pass by one vote.

Have a good weekend,

Greg