BUZZ
But 10 days ago he said biological males ‘shouldn’t get a special advantage on the field’
Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro recently called supporters of a bill which would ban males from women’s sporting competitions in public schools and universities “extremists.”
In his first public remarks about the “Save Women’s Sports” bill, Shapiro (pictured) said “What we do not need in Pennsylvania are politicians — extremist politicians like Donald Trump, [State Senator] Doug Mastriano, and these others — trying to legislate a student’s participation and legislate the restriction on freedom,” WITF reports.
Shapiro likened the bill to Trump’s and others’ actions on abortion and “marriage equality.” In 2022, then-Attorney General Shapiro opposed a similar bill.
Sen. Mastriano, who lost to Shapiro in the state’s last gubernatorial race, is Save Women’s Sports primary sponsor.
The GOP Senate-backed (plus five Democrats) bill “defines ‘sex’ as strictly male or female and assigned at birth,” and only refers to males’ participation in female sports, not vice versa.
Currently in the House of Representatives, the majority Democrats are preventing the bill from being voted on. Shapiro did not commit to vetoing the bill if it ever makes it out of the House.
“It’s a hypothetical,” the governor said. “The House isn’t moving that bill, and I haven’t reviewed it specifically.” Shapiro did say the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association “is best able to regulate athletic participation on a case-by-case basis.”
Notably, the PIAA recently altered its rules for transgender athlete participation following President Trump’s executive order on the matter. One of the changes is using “sex” instead of “gender” — just like the Save Women’s Sport bill.
MORE: Parents of transgender female track athlete: ‘cruel’ to make him run against boys
Interestingly, despite his use of the term “extremists,” just ten days ago Shapiro said in a meeting with transgender youngsters that he believes trans females (biological males) “shouldn’t get a special advantage on the field.”
WITF, an affiliate of PBS (which recently endured a cut of $1 billion in federal funding), takes a critical approach to the bill by pushing back on GOP State Rep. Martina White’s (and Pres. Trump’s) use of “biological men,” and their references of transgender women as men.
It’s “a rhetorical and political strategy often used by opponents of transgender rights to downplay the significance of gender and how it differs from sex,” WITF’s Jordan Wilkie writes.
Wilkie quotes local transgender rights advocate Malinda Clatterbuck who says such language is “dehumanizing” and that she’s “disgusted by the behavior of these adults who are willing to treat children that way.”
Clatterbuck also doesn’t understand why people “fear” and “kowtow” to the GOP on this issue.
“The GOP has been emboldened to be more than aggressive in their discrimination because Dems have backed off and stepped down and refused to boldly stand up and speak the truth in a confident way,” she said.
Wilkie also calls transgender girls having an advantage over biological females in athletics a “belief,” and adds “actually determining competitiveness is more complex.”
He does, at least, note that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the participation of biological males in female sporting events. If anything, that opposition is growing: A New York Times/Ipsos poll from January shows 79 percent oppose such participation; a year before, a U. Chicago survey had the figure at about 66 percent.
The U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear West Virginia v. B.P.J. in October which may settle once and for all the constitutionality of various states’ Save Women’s Sports legislation.
MORE: PA female HS runner sues district, sports association over 2nd-place finish against trans-female
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: PA Governor Josh Shapiro/X
