Iowa House passes bill to ban men from women’s sports

DES MOINES, Iowa (LifeSiteNews) — The Iowa House voted 55-39 Monday to approve a bill that would disqualify biological males suffering gender dysphoria from participating in schools’ and universities’ female athletic programs.

“This bill is not about discrimination. This bill is about protection,” said Republican state Rep. Skyler Wheeler of the measure, the Des Moines Register reports. “Ladies and gentlemen of the House, it’s simple: Girls should not be sidelined in their own sports.”

An earlier version of the bill only covered kindergarten through high school, but it was amended Monday to include both public and private colleges. Companion legislation is currently pending before the Republican-controlled state Senate that applies to all of those categories except private colleges.

“Girls have dreams and aspirations of earning a scholarship to help pay for college,” Governor Kim Reynolds (R) said earlier this month. “Girls have dreams and aspirations of one day competing in the Olympics. So it’s a fairness issue.”