After barring transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in 2021 and prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors last year, legislators are looking to take things a step further and cement the differences between biological males and females into state law.
House Concurrent Resolution 33, authored by Republican Rep. Dana McLean, would serve to reaffirm those biological distinctions in order to provide advanced legal protections for women under state law. The legislation asserts that males and females have “unique” and “immutable” differences that exist before birth and elevate during puberty.
In the text, it is stated that only women, defined as biological females, can get pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed children, essentially dismissing the idea that a transgender individual who identifies as female can be a legitimate mother.
The legislation continues, suggesting that biological males are, on average, larger and stronger than their female counterparts, thus posing more of a dangerous physical threat that can be displayed in violent situations. This was written to infer that trans women are capable of committing a greater degree of violence than biological women and should be tried as males in legal cases.
At the crux of the argument in the proposal is that there needs to be a strong boundary set on the difference between a biological male and a biological female so that those born with male sex organs, no matter how they identify, cannot impose on spaces specifically designed for those born with female sex organs such as women’s athletic competitions, women’s prisons, women’s restrooms, and domestic violence shelters.
“We recognize that policies and laws that distinguish between the sexes are subject to intermediate constitutional scrutiny and permitted when they serve an important governmental objective and are substantially related to achieving that objective,” a portion of the text reads.
HCR 33 has been referred to the House Rules Committee.
