The “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would bar transgender women from participating in women’s sports, passed the SC House of Representatives on April 6.
The proposed bill, officially H.4608, passed the South Carolina House with an 82-28 vote. It now moves to the Republican–controlled state Senate where it is almost guaranteed to pass.
The bill’s official summary calls for all K-12 and colleges “to provide such sports teams designated for males may be open to female student participants; to provide such sports teams designated for females may not be open to male participants; to provide assumptions concerning the correctness of biological gender statements on official birth certificates of students.”
If this bill passes the Senate and is signed by the governor, transgender female athletes in South Carolina will be required to compete in sports under the gender that they were assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
Rep. Ashley Trantham, who was the lead sponsor of the bill, said in a speech on the House floor that “Women deserve to compete on a level playing field” and that the bill “ensures women are not forced to play against men on sports teams.”
Rep. RJ May concurred, saying on the House floor that “Men have a biological advantage on the sports playing field, their bones are bigger, their lungs have more capacity, they are built differently. What this bill does is protect women who have a biological difference to males in a sport that they have competed their whole lives in, so it keeps the playing field fair and level.”
Gov. Henry McMaster spoke in favor of the bill on April 6 during a brief media availability with The State newspaper.
“I believe strongly that you shouldn’t have men competing against women in those kind of athletic contests,” McMaster said. “I think most women agree. I think most people agree. This is one of those common sense things.”
Current state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman spoke out against the bill, saying that she believes transgender students will feel less protected in schools.
Winthrop University professor of political science Brandon Ranallo-Benavidez agreed, saying that the bill “is simply saying that your genitals determine what type of sport you will play. To me that is clear effort to discriminate instead of protect.”
Some Winthrop students said they believe the bill is rooted in transphobia.
“It’s blatant transphobia from a transphobic legislature that is based on absolutely no scientific information, only religious right-wing extremist propaganda,” said a student who wished to remain anonymous.
“I have a strong belief that the bills that are coming out for banning transgender individuals are due to just plain outright transphobia,” said Xav Crooks, transfer social work freshman.
Crooks added that if “legislators truly wanted to understand transgender individuals and how the whole process works, they would do appropriate research based off actual facts and not from uncompleted studies dated back ten years.”
Bills like these have been passed in fifteen other states as of this writing, including Texas, Florida, South Dakota and Utah. In South Carolina, only five students since 2016 have applied for waivers to play in sports categories different from their gender assigned at birth.
“If you actually cared about the students and individuals that are involved with this, you would do the research and then come to the conclusion that it’s not a safety issue, it’s not an ‘unfair advantage.’ Do your research,” Crooks said.
“Oppression against anyone goes against the very nature of the 14th Amendment which guarantees equal protection under the law. Equal protection under the law is not a flowery phrase. It is literally required under the 14th Amendment,” Ranallo-Benavidez said.
