Welcome to

Legislation that would require transgender athletes to have been in the process of transitioning for at least a year and meet certain testosterone level requirements to compete in women’s only sports passed its second Senate committee Wednesday morning.

Democrats and trans-advocates argued the legislation is discriminatory and could come at a financial cost to the state.

At least 50 companies have vowed to refuse to do business in states that pass similar legislation.

The NCAA has also threatened to pull championship games from other states that have passed similar restrictions on trans athletes.

Senate Sponsor Kelli Stargel said the threats aren’t swaying her.

“The bill is very simple and I’m not trying to be discriminatory to anybody, but I think it’s common knowledge amongst most people that men generally are stronger than women. That’s why we have women’s sports. That’s why we have the separation. So in sports, where the gender is separated and it’s a women’s sport, we’re trying to make sure that women who are competing are competing with someone at the same level athletically, strength-wise,” said Stargel.

The bill has one more committee stop in the Senate.

A more restrictive bill that would require athletes to compete as their sex assigned at birth has one more stop in the House.