SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Transgender girls in Utah will be allowed to participate in girls’ sports at the start of the school year, after a judge on Friday reversed the ban pending legal challenges from parents.
Instead of a complete ban, transgender girls will now be brought before a commission that will decide on a case-by-case basis if their participation is a violation of justice. Utah’s Republican lawmakers created the commission in a law passed earlier this year as a fallback plan that will be implemented in the event of an unconstitutional ordinance.
Under the law, the court will be allowed to ask and evaluate the child’s height and weight in making decisions about whether an infectious girl would have an unfair advantage.
The commission, which will be convened in the coming weeks, will have experts in political matters including sports and medicine.
When requested, the commission was criticized by representatives of transgender athletes – who feared they would feel targeted for their body measurements – and supporters of the actual ban, who argued that it did not go far enough.
The commission will start working while the court is debating the issue of a permanent ban. Members have not yet been appointed but will be in the coming weeks, legislative leaders said.
The state body that oversees more than 80,000 high school athletics said only one transgender girl competed in their athletics last year and, with athletics already underway, it’s unclear how many will go before the commission and when its election will begin.
Utah’s decision marked the court’s breakthrough in the national debate over how to handle a flashpoint case.
A dozen Republican-led states — including Utah — have passed laws banning transgender women or girls from sports on the grounds that it gives them a chance to compete.
Transgender rights advocates argue that the laws are not just games, but another way to demean and attack transgender youth. Such cases are happening in states like Idaho, West Virginia and Indiana.
Utah’s ban began in July after the Republican-supermajority Legislature defeated an impeachment motion by Gov. Spencer Cox, also a Republican.
Utah District Judge Keith Kelly said in a ruling that upheld the ban that attorneys representing the families of the three female athletes expressed concern that they were “singled out for being mistreated as transgender girls.”
Transgender girls and their parents filed a lawsuit last May, arguing that the ban violates the Utah Constitution’s guarantee of equal rights and due process.
The verdict was exciting news for the girls and their families, said Shannon Minter, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who has also represented both men and women in court cases facing Utah over the past decade.
“The pressure, the difficulty of putting them down was enormous,” Minter said. “It’s just so refreshing to lift a weight.”
Utah state Sen. Stuart Adams, a Republican, said in a statement Friday that the commission will make decisions in a way that “protects fair and safe competition while protecting the integrity of women’s sports.”
The commission will include an expert in medical data, a doctor with experience in the “identity of health”, a sports expert, a mental health expert, a sports teacher, a representative of the sports organization and a rotating member who is a coach or an official in the sport. it depends on each case.
Minter said he hopes the commission will act as a safeguard, with the assumption that transgender girls can play unless there is an obvious issue of competition.
“How it’s done is important,” Minter said.
The ruling follows revelations this week by the Utah High School Activities Association that it investigated the female athlete in secret — without telling her or her parents — after receiving complaints from the parents of two girls she had beaten in competitions asking if the girl was immoral.
The investigation — which has been widely criticized by Cox — revealed she was a female after reviewing her school records from kindergarten, agency spokesman David Spatafore told lawmakers this week.
Critics of the ban were upset but said they were not surprised by the investigation. She said it showed how the politicization of girls’ sports affects more than transgender players and makes all girls scrutinized in the ways they expect.
“It creates such a negative environment in terms of negative stereotypes about girls and what they should look like,” Minter said. “It’s hurting all the kids in the district.”
The sequence of events also showed how the authorities can make complaints now that youth sports and the organizations that govern them are a matter of national law. Spatafore said the complaint was among several the agency has focused on in trying to comply with Utah’s law, which went into effect in July.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
How old do you have to be to take puberty blockers?
You may want to wait until you are 16 to start hormone therapy, but you can take puberty blockers at this time. What are the risks of puberty blockers and hormone therapy? Puberty blockers can: slow down your physical growth and affect your height.
Who can take puberty blockers? Puberty blockers are only given to children who have started puberty. For a child who is given the role of a woman at birth, Dr. See the article : Ordered Quotas Will Not Eliminate Inequality In Business Leadership. Cartaya says puberty usually starts between the ages of 8 and 13. For a child assigned a male role at birth, the age is between 9 and 14.
Can you take hormone blockers at 15?
The Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health support the use of contraceptives for children who want to delay or prevent unwanted body changes. The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration has approved puberty blockers for children who start puberty at a young age.
What age can you start puberty blockers?
For most children, puberty begins between the ages of 10 and 11, although puberty sometimes begins earlier. The effectiveness of pubertal blockers depends on when the child starts taking the drug. See the article : Utah judge overturns law banning transgender women from sports. GnRH analogue treatment can be started at the beginning of puberty to delay the second sexual behavior.
What causes gender dysphoria?
The exact cause of gender dysphoria is unclear. Women’s empowerment is complex and still has aspects that are not known or fully understood. This may interest you : Dunn is proud of where Title IX took on women’s sports, he knows the fight is not going on. Gender dysphoria is not related to sexual orientation. People with gender dysphoria may identify as straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual.
What causes gender dysphoria? Gender Dysphoria and Complex Trauma Maltreatment experiences may include: severe neglect; experiencing domestic violence; especially, painful health problems; and physical and sexual abuse (Zilberstein, 2014).
How can you prevent gender dysphoria?
Other ways to alleviate gender dysphoria may include the use of:
- Mutual support groups.
- Voice therapy and communication to develop voice quality that matches your experience or gender.
- Hair removal or insertion.
- Genital tucking.
- Breast binding.
- Breast padding.
- Packing.
What are signs of gender dysphoria?
You may feel: the fact that your identity is against your biological sex. you are only free if you are in a preferred male position (which may include non-binary) a strong desire to hide or remove physical signs of your reproductive sex, such as breasts or facial hair.
Can gender dysphoria go away?
Gender dysphoria can be alleviated with supportive environments and information about treatment to reduce the difference between your inner personality and the sex you were assigned at birth.
Can you live with gender dysphoria? Many people with gender dysphoria have a strong, persistent desire to live a life that “conforms” or to express their identity. They do this by changing their appearance and behavior. Some people with gender dysphoria, but not all, may need to use hormones and sometimes surgery to express their gender.
At what age does gender dysphoria go away?
If gender dysphoria continues to develop during adolescence, it may be permanent. For children with gender dysphoria, the period between the ages of 10 and 13 is critical in terms of long-term gender identity.
Does dysphoria go away after puberty?
Gender dysphoria that starts in childhood and worsens with the onset of puberty rarely goes away. For children with gender dysphoria, suppressing puberty can: Improve mental health. Reduce depression and anxiety.
What happens if you don’t treat gender dysphoria?
Undiagnosed or Untreated Gender Dysphoria Gender dysphoria is not a disease. But the suffering that results from it may be associated with mental health problems, such as anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and suicide attempts.
