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The House of Representatives of Arizona has passed a new bill which when signed into law would ban the transgender female athletes from participating in the school sports.

The ‘Save Women’s Sports Act,’ which has been introduced by Republican Rep. Nancy Barto, would be requiring the interscholastic and intramural sports which is sponsored by the educational institutions for explicitly designating sports as either for males or for females based on the biological sex of an individual.

Nancy Barto who is the Republican Rep. has said in a statement that the bill that has been passed is just about fairness. “This is about fairness. That’s it. What is fair on the field, the court, the track, and in the pool,” as stated by Nancy Barto to ABC News.

The House Bill 2706 states that if disputed, the sex of a student can be established by presenting a statement that is signed by a physician which indicates the sex of a student and also the analysis of the DNA of a student.

It has been said that the bill has been first introduced on the 3rd of February and is passed in the House after a month along the party lines 31-29 after an emotional debated that lasted for hours on Tuesday.

The biological difference between the males and females has been cited by Nancy Barto. It has been said that there exists differences between males and females from the capacity of lung and the muscle mass to the levels of testosterone which she has said that it would benefit the men a physical advantage over women in sports.

Barto has also mentioned that being the reason for separating male and female sports which has also been the reason for women being successful in achieving great heights in the field of sports.

“What has changed is Interscholastic policies allowing biological males identifying as females to compete on women’s teams,” as said by Nancy Barto.

It has been said that the bill would apply K-12, female teams of the community college and the universities.

Although the bill has been supported and voted for by Nancy Barto and the others saying that the bill is about keeping a level playing field, the people who oppose the bill argue that passing of the bill would fail in protecting the kids belonging to the category of LGBTQ and also the transgender youth.

Democratic Rep. Kirsten Engel has said that the impact will not be for the protection of women’s sports but it would lead to turning the women’s sport a total battleground of lawsuits, said Kirsten Engel during the hearing.

The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) which is the governing body for school sports in the state of Arizona is currently having policies in place for the transgender athletes for competing in a manner which is said to be consistent with their gender identity.

The policies of the Arizona Interscholastic Association and the procedures book is said to state that all the students who are eligible for participating in the interscholastic athletics ought to have an opportunity to participate in the interscholastic athletics irrespective of the gender of an individual.

By Shrithika Kushangi