The sponsor of a Utah proposal to create a commission to make eligibility decisions about transgender kids in youth sports is removing controversial provisions that list body measurements as criteria to be considered.
Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, speaks during an interview at the Utah State Capitol Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Salt Lake City. Birkeland, a Republican who coaches junior varsity basketball when not in the statehouse, said Wednesday that she was in the process of removing a list of physical attributes from her proposed School Activity Eligibility Commission" which would have used listed criteria such as bone density, hip-to-knee ratio, and oxygen saturation to determine eligibility.
"They’ll still consider anything that can give them athletic advantage. They can go back and look at those things and consider hip-to-knee ratio. They can consider that the muscle mass or height ... We don’t want to pin-cushion them in and tell them, ‘Just consider these things,'" she said. She has framed her proposal as a compromise that would allow transgender athletes to play, while still answering conservatives’ concerns that those players could have a competitive advantage in girls’ sports.
Birkeland said transgender student-athletes could submit whatever information they wanted to the proposed commission. But if they decided not to submit relevant data points, they may be asked supplemental questions about the criteria as members determine whether they can fairly compete.
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