Lawmaker pitches constitutional rules for trans athletes
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Transgender student athletes would be required to compete as the sex on their birth certificate under a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution.
Republican sponsor Rep. Chuck Basye during a state House committee hearing on Wednesday said transgender girls have an unfair advantage.
He says allowing transgender girls to compete on girls teams would discriminate against cisgender girls.
Transgender children and parents sometimes cried as they asked lawmakers not to advance the proposal.
Several pointed to Missouri's current public high school sports rules, which already prohibit transgender girls from competing on girls teams unless they're undoing hormone therapy.