By Whitney Downard | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Even as Republican state senators passed a second attempt to restrict transgender female athlete participation in Pennsylvania schools, leadership acknowledged that it was unlikely to pass in the Democrat-controlled state House.
“Due to Democrat’s political tricks and parliamentary games in the House, this legislation has been stalled,” said Sen. Judy Ward (R-Blair) at a Wednesday press conference. “Through the passage of this legislation, we are again calling on the House of Representatives to act.”
Ward’s first version, Senate Bill 9, passed the body on a 32-18 vote last May but has yet to receive a hearing in the House. An identical Senate version moved on a 30-17 bipartisan vote Wednesday. Four Democratic senators voted in favor of the proposal.
Local State Sen. Frank Farry, a Republican, voted in favor of the bill, and State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat, voted against it.
But over a dozen Republican senators maintained that voters wanted the bill to advance, noting that 27 other states have transgender female athlete bans and an estimated 80% of Americans support a ban.
A 2022 survey of Pennsylvanians found that 55% of voters supported such a law. But pollster Berwood Yost of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster said, “I can’t imagine this is top of mind for most people at the moment.”
“A majority of Pennsylvania voters might support it, but it’s not even in their top 10 issues that they care about,” said Yost. “Right now, it’s the cost of things and the perceived inability of our governing class to create solutions that impact their lives.
“While I can understand why they might put it forward, I don’t think it helps them at all in this current election cycle and current political climate,” he added.
Pennsylvania will be a key battleground state in the fight to control the U.S. House. As public opinion sours on President Donald Trump, that sentiment might impact other races, including the 228 Pennsylvanian legislative seats up for election.
Some political consultants and think tanks have urged congressional candidates “to avoid messaging on trans issues altogether,” as reported by The 19th*. They point to “recent survey results that showed voters were tired of hearing policy discourse about trans rights from both parties over more core issues like the economy.”
A focus on transgender policies in the state “probably won’t help” in the Keystone State, said Yost, but could hurt a candidate in a tight race.
“If you look at where the fate of the state House and the state Senate is going to be decided, it’s in places … where there’s a smaller gap between the partisan difference,” said Yost. “This is likely to be way down the list of things voters care about.”
Responding to Democratic criticism about prioritizing the bill over “affordability” issues, Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) added that the General Assembly is in the midst of crafting the state’s next budget.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Martin. “We can focus on those issues, while also caring about the safety, well-being of, and opportunity and fairness for women and young girls in this commonwealth.”
GOP compares bill to Olympic policy
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) called the bill a “priority” for his caucus on the floor, noting members of the lower chamber had also passed bills — sometimes repeatedly, as is the case with an increase to the minimum wage and legalizing cannabis — it knows won’t advance.
“The Olympics did what we passed today. And so if it’s good enough for the international community to protect our female athletes and to support equality in competition, it should be good enough for this commonwealth to do the same,” said Pittman in the press conference.
Gov. Josh Shapiro called supportive lawmakers “extremists” following its first passage last summer, which Pittman referenced in his remarks.
“So if the governor wants to call us extreme, more power to him. But basically what he’s saying is the entire international community is extreme because the International Olympic Committee did exactly — exactly — what we did in legislation earlier today.”
However, the Senate proposal doesn’t go as far as the new Olympic standard, specifically banning female athletes with “differences in sex development,” which can include those who are intersex. Intersex people make up as much as 1.7% of the population, similar to the number of people with red hair or green eyes, and may have both male and female sex characteristics.
Ward emphasized that “physical advantages … can create unfair competition,” specifically citing testosterone. But she panned those “rare” intersex athletes, which she said were “taken care of at birth.”
“They are assigned a biological sex at birth. Pennsylvania has male and female on their birth certificates, so these individuals are assigned a sex at birth,” said Ward.
Some intersex individuals have petitioned hospitals to stop performing surgeries to align an infant’s genitalia to one sex.
Female Olympian runner Caster Semenya “was assigned female at birth in South Africa and has testosterone levels higher than the typical female range,” as reported by the Associated Press.
Because of Semenya’s female identity, she could compete in Pennsylvania — but not in the Los Angeles Olympics.
Pittman suggested that House lawmakers could refine the bill to address intersex athletes.
Senators didn’t have a firm estimate on the number of transgender athletes, estimating it to be in the dozens. Last year, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association told the Associated Press it was aware of just one transgender student athlete.
At the collegiate level, the NCAA president estimated there were “less than 10” transgender student athletes at the end of 2024.
In a statement, House Democrats said more than 250 of the 300 bills passed by the body awaited Senate action, including the budget and bills that would deliver “real help for working families who can’t afford rising costs, including for gas, groceries, and electricity.”
“The Senate is wasting time and taxpayer dollars sending the same old culture war legislation without even bothering to discuss the issue with us directly,” continued Nicole Reigelman, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
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