” I guess we’ll have to go perform this again”, Starla Miller said as the council room cleared.
She just testified against a bill that would expand the state’s restrictions on transgender girls ‘ participation in girls ‘ sports as one of dozens of Alaskans. Despite considerable opposition, the House Education Committee overwhelmingly voted to support it.
Legislators are now considering five charges that may restrict the freedom of transgender Alaskan children. House Bill 183 is one of five. They are a part of a wider federal pattern.
The number of costs that may restrict the rights of trans people in the United States has increased in the past five years, from a few hundred per year to hundreds.
Republicans in the House. In Alaska, Mike Dunleavy has spearheaded that energy that has focused on the privileges of trans children in the country’s schools.
None of the policy has yet to be rules.
Student sporting teams
There are two House charges that would restrict Alaskan kids ‘ sports participation this year to organizations that match their sex at birth. These laws have been passed in twenty-four state.
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After a 2022 plan to do so failed in the Legislature, the governor’s officials on the country’s Board of Education and Early Development passed a resolution last month prohibiting transgender women from playing on high school girls ‘ sports team.
Then, House Bill 183, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Allard, R- Eagle River, and House Bill 27, sponsored by Rep. Tom McKay, R- Anchorage, seek to develop that restraint to all college sports teams, including for primary- younger children.
Allard co-chairs the House Education Committee, and this month her act was the first hearing place for her bill it. McKay’s equivalent act has not yet been heard in council, he is a co- partner of Allard’s costs.
Allard claimed that her act will protect women’s rights to play sports under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex bias in education. Trans women and girls are referred to as “biological men” by the policy.
People will be disadvantaged once more if forced to actually compete against biological men. If people can thrive as better types of people, all of our improvement for justice is dead”, Allard told the commission.
Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky student who was one of the women who faced off against Lia Thomas, a transgender girl who won a federal title in swimming in 2022, for evidence, was also invited. Gibson is well-known for speaking out against transgender athletes in children’s activities.
Larry Whitmore, a retired Anchorage instructor and coach and another testator, claimed he had witnessed trans women lose track and field medals and that it was unfair. He said when trans women win, it is a” tumor”—” It’s going to distribute through children’s activities and ruin them”, he said.
The legislation’s competitors reiterated that the bill addresses school-aged children, saying it would prevent trans girls from playing similar.
Dr. Lindsey Banning, the family of a transgender child, said the act was “hurtful” and that she would rather see the status address issues like eating problems, injuries and abuse.
We’re discussing whether to make discrimination a part of the law to prevent transgender children from playing games with their friends and being a team, she said. Alaskans have rejected this concept numerous times since it was first introduced in 2021, but I guess you want us to do it once more.
Another parent of a trans child, Rebecca Bernard, said that there is a funding crisis in education, not a crisis of LGBTQ+ youth.
” It’s painful to come and testify these hearings over and over again”, she said. The majority of those introducing bills that target transgender children are opposed to the bills, but they continue to come.
[Alaska House education proposal exposes disagreements and is still evolving policies]
The bill may be open to legal challenge under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which has been used to decide important civil rights cases, according to attorney Margaret Bergerud of the Legislature.
” I think it is likely that, at least under the federal Constitution, this bill does not pass constitutional muster for equal protection”, she said.
Bathrooms and pronouns
In addition, a proposal would require transgender students to be unable to use bathrooms in schools that reflect their gender identity. In the last ten years, laws have been passed intensively in the states.
House Bill 382, which would require teachers to notify the parents of a student who chooses to change their gender pronouns, was sponsored by Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski. Advocates for trans rights claim that this kind of requirement can prevent trans youth from expressing themselves if they believe their parents wo n’t agree with their gender identity.
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Other provisions of the bill include the requirement that new committees of parents designate the principals and establish a “teachers bill of rights” (teachers bill of rights ).
The bill should be informed if a child switches gender pronouns, according to Randy Griffith of Fairbanks, but he disagreed and said teachers should n’t be required to do so if a student is considering changing gender.
” The teacher should just be understanding and kind of neutral and pay attention a little,” he said.
Carole Bookless, a Juneau teacher, said she learned how to think about trans students from her kindergarten students.
A boy might feel he’s really a girl or a girl might feel she’s really a boy at a very young age,” I learned. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The children saw it as well. They simply accept it and shrug. If they can do it, so can we”, she said. ” It would be my suggestion that Alaska should go back and offer a non-gendered bathroom. Additionally, there is a non-gender change room in every school.
The proposed legislation, which requires parents to approve any pronoun changes for their child, is similar to the one that Dunleavy proposed last year.
House Bill 105 is awaiting a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, its companion, Senate Bill 96, has yet to be scheduled.
Despite lawmakers ‘ reservations, the House spending plan includes funding for the experimental Alaska reading institute.
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Protecting trans rights
In many aspects of state law in Alaska, the state government does not accord equal rights to LGBTQ+ people. On the recommendation of Attorney General Treg Taylor, the state’s Commission on Human Rights reversed most of the equal rights it had in 2022 for sexual orientation and gender identity.
A proposal from Rep. Jennie Armstrong, an Anchorage Democrat and a member of the House minority caucus, would reinstate recognition of those rights.
In the state, the legislation would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. According to her, it would align Alaska with a 2020 Supreme Court ruling outlawing such discrimination in the workplace.
If passed, the protections could reverse legislation that limits LGBTQ+ rights in public schools, because it includes protections for government services and accommodations.
The bill is co- sponsored by 14 members of the House minority caucus and three rural majority- caucus members: Reps. Neal Foster, D- Nome, CJ McCormick, D- Bethel, and Bryce Edgmon, I- Dillingham.
When Armstrong attempted to bypass the largely conservative-leaning House Judiciary Committee last year, House Bill 99 split the Republican-leaning House in an 18-22 vote. It has yet to be scheduled.
Armstrong claimed that her office recently resubmitted a request for a hearing before that committee.
” This bill would return to the status quo”, she said Wednesday. It would end legalized discrimination in our state, the statement reads.
Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.
