Indiana lawmakers enact trans sports ban with veto override

Indiana lawmakers enact trans sports ban with veto override Republican lawmakers in Indiana voted Tuesday to override the GOP governor’s veto of a bill banning transgender females from competing in girls school sports and join about more than a dozen other states adopting similar laws in the past two years. State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28 vote by the House earlier in the day. Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill did not provide a consistent policy for what he called “fairness in K-12 sports” when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March. The override votes were nearly party line and no lawmakers changed their votes from earlier this year. Four Republican senators joined all Democratic senators in voting to uphold the veto. In the House, three Republicans voted to sustain the veto, while one Democrat supported overriding it. Opponents have argued the bill is a bigoted response to a problem that doesn’t exist. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit minutes following the override in hopes of blocking the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 1. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 10-year-old girl who plays on her school’s all-girls softball team in Indianapolis. The new law would deny the fourth-grader the right to rejoin her team because she is a transgender girl, which is a violation of Title IX and the U.S. Constitution, according to the complaint. “There remains zero cases and the process, which is managed by the (Indiana High School Athletic Association), is working. I stand behind my decision to veto HB 1041,” he said. Republican sponsors of the bill maintain it is needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarships but have pointed out no instances in the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes. “(This measure) does not solve an issue. It does not bring people together. J.D. Ford of Indianapolis said shortly before the Senate vote. “Why do you press upon the government to solve this issue trans serwisy randkowe, which there is no issue?” Republican Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said the state needs the policy and called it “a matter of simple fairness.” “We don’t like to get to the state of Indiana sued, but it happens from time to time,” Bray said. “It’s a policy that I think we can stand behind.” The veto override votes came during a special one-day meeting 11 weeks after this year’s regular legislative session ended. Democrats had called for lawmakers to take action, instead, on a proposal to suspend the state’s 56 cents per gallon in taxes on gasoline amid the nationwide spike in fuel prices. Republicans disregarded that request. House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta of Fort Wayne lamented that Republicans focused on divisive cultural issues that “won’t do anything to help move the state of Indiana forward.” Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative “Certainly, we have some pressing issues out there that are affecting Hoosiers every day, specifically, including the high price of gasoline that we’re seeing all over the state,” GiaQuinta said. “Wish we could have potentially used this day to better help Hoosiers.” Activists held a rally against the ban ahead of the Legislature’s votes. Dozens of attendees, including several families with transgender youth, played sidewalk games around the Statehouse lawn. They argued that Indiana’s ban isn’t targeting elite athletes, but rather kids who want to play on a team...