Kennewick lawmaker’s bill targeting transgender high school athletes is off the mark | Editorial

State Rep. Brad Klippert’s attempt to prohibit transgender girls from participating in individualized high school sports is unnecessary and counterproductive.

This issue already has been vetted and settled by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

As it happens, the WIAA was the first athletic school association in the country to decide that transgender students should be allowed to participate in sports based on their gender identity.

The policy has been on the books for over a decade, and has been a model for many other states to follow.

The WIAA is the rule-making body tasked with creating fairness between high school sports programs in Washington state, so its policies should carry the most weight when deciding which teens play on which teams.

A state law crafted by politicians would be subject to partisanship and bigotry.

The executive board of the WIAA is made up of school athletic directors and school administrators, and it makes sense that an issue as controversial as transgender athletes be handled under the purview of the group that works closest with parents, students and coaches.

Klippert, a Kennewick Republican, pre-filed House Bill 2201 for the legislative session, which begins Monday, Jan. 13.

The proposal is in response to a constituent concerned by stories about transgender girls competing — and dominating — on high school girls’ teams in other states.

Klippert told the Tri-City Herald that the bill is about fairness, and that it isn’t fair when a girl trains and trains to qualify in her sport at state, but then must compete against a male who self-identifies as a girl.

Many people agree with that sentiment.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Klippert’s bill is one of five nationwide that aim, at some level, to force transgender athletes to compete on teams that match their biological sex. The other proposals are in New Hampshire, Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri.

There are 17 states that allow transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions, according to Transathlete.com, a website dedicated to tracking high school sports policies, and Washington is one of them.

Eight states have some kind of restriction and the others appear to have no policy, or their cases are individually reviewed.

The issue is gaining new attention after two Connecticut high school transgender girls went 1-2 in the 55-meter dash at a state championship competition last year.

The law firm, Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a federal discrimination complaint on behalf of three Connecticut girls who competed against the top finishers, saying the state policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete by gender identity is unfair.

Society generally accepts that males, as a group, are stronger and faster than females as a group. If they have to compete against one another, females may be at a disadvantage.

However, for transgender students competing under a gender they don’t identify with is considered cruel and harmful.

Transgender teens already are bullied and attempt suicide more often than other high school students, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Participating in sports should be an outlet and a benefit for them, just as it is for other students.

There is no question this is a challenging issue, and it’s commendable and amazing the WIAA tackled it so long ago.

In 2008, it gathered school officials and representatives from different civil liberties groups to hammer out its inclusive policy, which says: “All students should have the opportunity to participate in WIAA activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”

The state Legislature has enough to do without taking on a controversial topic that the WIAA already has grappled with.

Klippert said he’s trying to be responsive to a constituent, but his proposal is a solution looking for a problem.

State lawmakers should leave it alone and leave it to the high school sports governing body of the state.

This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.