KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Senate passed SB484 Tuesday that bans transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.
In a vote of 27 to 12, the Senate passed the bill, which will now move on to the House for a vote.
The bill's title is "enacting the fairness in women's sports act to require that student athletic teams only include members who are of the same biological sex unless designated as coed."
The bill, if enacted into law, would impact all teams or sports that are sponsored by a public elementary, secondary or post-secondary institution.
"Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex," the bill says.
The Committee on Education is the sponsor of SB484.
Following the vote, Sen. Tom Holland gave very brief remarks about his vote against the bill.
"The Kansas legislature needs to stop bullying transgender kids," Holland said.
A few other senators joined in on Holland's remarks.
Sen. Jeff Pittman, who represents the Leavenworth area, also spoke following his vote against the bill. He said that competitive high school and college sports are already regulated by both the Kansas State High School Activities Association and the NCAA, and the legislature should observe their rules.
Pittman also mentioned the potential for economic repercussions if this bill were enacted into law.
"It has economic risks for Kansas with regard to factoring against us for NCAA, FIFA and other tournaments," Pittman said.
So far, 11 other states have enacted bans on transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
