Instead of focusing on national teacher shortages, classroom gun violence, or other very real and frightening problems plaguing the nation’s school system, the House Committee on Education and Workforce HR734, was introduced in February. This misguided and discriminatory bill would ban transgender children from playing on teams that match their gender. This week, 40 athletes who play in the professional leagues or compete in the Olympics and Paralympics signed a letter dated April 10 opposing the bill. Including CeCe Telfer and founder Chris Mosier. TransAthlete.com.
letter issued by Athlete Ally, reveals what the bill is: prejudice and cowardice. “We, the undersigned athletes, believe that every child has the right to change their lives for the better by being able to participate in the sport they love,” the letter read. increase. “Right now, transgender and intersex human rights are under attack and politicians are pushing … HR734.” Many transgender children are already discriminated against at school every day. Teachers who refuse to use their preferred names and pronouns or school staff threaten to hand them over to their families— and the focus on keeping them out of sports is just the latest attack on their rights. Fifty-six bills are being considered nationwide that would ban playing in the United States.
according to human rights campaignThe bill is backed by an anti-LGBTQ+ organization called Alliance Defending Freedom, a designated hate group by various public policy and legal bodies and other conservative organizations. Proponents of the bill seek to exclude trans people from activities essential to child development and monitor the bodies of all. especially young girls.
Rapinoe has been protesting the bill on Twitter since a House committee met to discuss the bill in early March. “Call your Congressional representatives now that women’s sport needs to be protected from unequal pay, sexual abuse, and lack of resources, not from transgender children,” she said. Rapinoe murmured recently.
The letter emphasizes that if HR734 were to pass, it would deprive children of the normal childhood experiences everyone is entitled to, ultimately creating a domino effect for society as a whole. “A crackdown on who can and cannot play school sports will very likely lead to a crackdown on the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls,” the athletes wrote.
At the end of the letter, they urged lawmakers to speak out. The authors reveal the dangerous realities under consideration. HR734 legalizes transphobia and codifies the exclusion of trans students from the community.
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