Some bad things are happening in Nevada at the intersection of public schools and transgenderism, courtesy of the state’s elected Democrats. Last week, Democrats in the state legislature approved an “administrative penalty” of $5,000 per day on school boards that do not allow transgender athletes to participate in school sports or access the locker rooms or bathrooms they “identify” with. And the Democrats pushed this through in a very sneaky method. They waited until Assembly Bill 423 had passed with broad bipartisan support. AB423 was a routine housekeeping bill dealing with the funding for and regulations governing school boards. Then they introduced the trans language as an amendment without a single hearing or any debate and called a vote. Not a single Republican supported it.

Democrats in the Nevada legislature swiftly passed an amendment to penalize school boards that prevent biological males who identify as transgender from using women’s locker rooms and competing on girls sports teams.

The amendment, passed Friday without a hearing, placed an administrative penalty of $5,000 per day on school boards in the state that do not allow students to participate in “school activities” based on their “gender identity or expression.”

The controversial amendment to penalize schools was reportedly only added after the first draft of Assembly Bill No. 423 already passed with unanimous, bipartisan support. The amendment to the bill received zero GOP votes, passing only with full Democratic support.

Of course the Democrats didn’t allow any debate on the issue. They know how deeply unpopular this is with families across the state. They just don’t care. Transgender orthodoxy is part of the Democratic rule book now, and it must be obeyed if not worshipped. As a result, many school districts will be caught between a rock and a hard place. They can either face the wrath of the parents at the next school board meeting and potentially lose their positions, or they can run up staggering fines at a time when most schools are struggling with their budgets already.

Compare and contrast this with what’s happening in Alabama. The state’s Republican Governor just signed a law that will ban trans athletes from competing on collegiate women’s sports teams.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday signed legislation that will ban transgender women from playing on female sports teams in college, becoming the latest state to place restrictions on transgender athletes.

The legislation expands the state’s existing 2021 ban on transgender athletes on K-12 sports teams to include college teams. Students assigned one sex at birth would be prohibited from playing under a different gender identity, even after undergoing hormone treatment.

Alabama is protecting women’s sports for girls and young women all the way from Kindergarten until they finish college. Since we’re talking about sports, ESPN had to get involved eventually. One of their sports commentators, Samantha Ponder, is reportedly “under fire” because of this ongoing debate. So what did she do that was so awful and unacceptable? She quote-tweeted a tweet from Riley Gaines.

Gaines had tweeted some of the messages of thanks she has received from women and girls around the country for standing up for female sports. Ponder retweeted her, adding a few of her own thoughts about how it’s not “hateful” to demand fairness in sports for girls. And for that, she is now being called a “bigot.”

This is one of the prime categories in the “national divorce” that we keep hearing about. It increasingly feels as if there will never be any middle ground and the trans activists aren’t going to give an inch in their demands. (Yes, I started typing the joke that most of you are thinking about right now but I deleted it.) Perhaps any remaining trans activists in Alabama will simply need to move to Nevada and the sane parents in Nevada will need to similarly relocate and snap up their properties in the Yellowhammer State. Of course, then we’ll have to have two entirely separate collegiate sports organizations, with one for the red states and one for the blue. And that would mean fewer competitive opportunities for everyone. What a total mess. I no longer have any idea where this train is heading, but it’s not a good place.