The battle lines are still being drawn in the effort to save women’s and girls’ competitive sports in the United States and the fight has now moved on to Ohio. In the Buckeye State, legislators have introduced a new bill with the appropriate name of the Save Womens’ Sports Act. Much like similar legislation being debated around the country, this measure would bar boys who “identify” as girls from competing in girls’ sports for all of the usual and obvious reasons. This measure would apply to all public schools and colleges, as well as private schools and colleges that are members of a state or national athletic association. As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, the proposal is drawing howls of protests from the usual suspects. (Fox 8 News)

Ohio lawmakers proposed a new House Bill that would prohibit transgender female athletes from participating in girls’ sports.

It’s called the Save Women’s’ Sports Act and is being sponsored by Rep. Jena Powell (R) District-80 in Darke County and Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus (R) District-50 in Stark County.

“We want every girl in our state to achieve her athletic dreams. The Save Women’s Sports Act ensures that happens,” said Rep. Powell.

At a press conference on Wednesday, supporters said the proposed bill is about “fairness” and pointed to a number of issues including physical differences between the genders.

To avoid some of the typical objections, the law would provide exceptions for intersex students who would be able to compete with either gender.

The supporters of the bill, along with its authors, correctly described the situation. They note that males retain significant physical advantages in most competitive sports even if they’ve been suppressing their testosterone levels. They have “greater lung capacity, larger hearts, higher red blood cell counts, stronger tendons and ligaments, greater muscle strength and increased bone density.”

As you would expect, objections were raised by the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. Their director claims that there is “no need” for such a bill because the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) already has rules in place covering these questions. Sadly, the OHSAA rules are completely inadequate. They state that male competitors identifying as females “must have completed a minimum of one year of hormone treatment related to gender transition to participate in girls sports.”

As was already pointed out above, such treatments are not only dangerous science experiments being performed on children, but they don’t remove the natural physical advantages that males have, though they might reduce them slightly. And that’s simply not good enough, as we’ve seen in too many cases around the country.

Perhaps a better question for the Ohio legislature to be examining is how medical professionals are being allowed to inject foreign hormones into children’s bodies that are totally unnatural to them, warping their physical development while their young bodies are still growing. Even worse, other children are being given drugs to prevent the natural onset of puberty and some are even getting irreversible surgery. These practices should be considered blatant acts of child abuse and medical malpractice.

There are a few cases pending with the Supreme Court at the moment dealing with some transgender issues. But I sincerely doubt that any of them will produce a ruling broad enough to cover questions of that nature or of the rules governing participation in girls’ and women’s sports. Until the day arrives when they are ready and willing to tackle the larger issues, this fight will have to take place at the state level. And far too often, it’s the girls who wind up on the losing end.