The Louisiana Senate passed SB 44 on Wednesday, legislation that will require K-12 students to compete on sports teams designated by biological gender.
The bill is titled the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" and will require athletic events sponsored by an "elementary, secondary, or postsecondary educational institution to be designated based upon the biological sex of team members." In simple terms, boys with boys, girls with girls.
Despite the Senate passing the bill with relative ease, Gov. John Bel Edwards was less enthused about the passing of the bill.
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"I would hope it doesn't reach my desk," Edwards said of the bill last month. "It's pretty sad because it's theoretically a bill about unfairness, but ... that unfairness, it isn't happening in Louisiana. But what is happening is we have some young people who have pretty severe mental illness in some cases, or I should say emotional issues and it just seems this is piling on, to me."
Edwards is hitting on a key point. There are plenty of young people who have lots of emotional baggage to carry around, but it's not because people want to keep boys and girls sports separate.
The real issue is that we have encouraged and enabled children and others who want to switch genders. The simple fact of the matter is, a person's gender is given at birth and cannot be altered by choice later on in life. Families, schools, and governments do a disservice -- and in fact, a great harm -- to children by indulging the thoughts in their heads that say they can switch genders on a whim.
It's really disappointing when we think the real problem is that states like Louisiana want to keep boys and girls sports separate. The real problem is a deeper one in the minds of our children.
