A second hearing was held on Wednesday for HB 6 (“Save Women’s Sports Act”) in the Higher Education committee of the Ohio House of Representatives.
If passed, the bill would ban transgender girls and women across the state from competing in team sports from kindergarten through college.
This second hearing consisted of proponent testimony: those testifying in support of the bill.
The lineup of witnesses included representatives from Alliance Defending Freedom – the notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group, designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – and the Center for Christian Virtue, the conservative lobbying group that has been involved in crafting nearly every piece of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Ohio in recent years.
For nearly two hours, representatives and witnesses went back and forth debating the idea of fairness, the definition of biological sex and enough mentions of swimmer Lia Thomas to make her an official Ohio resident.
Below, we present to you nine of the most memorable quotes from this second hearing:
1. “Not right now, no.”
-Alliance Defending Freedom’s Matt Sharp, answering a question from Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, about whether the organization is representing any Ohio athletes. Twice Rep. Weinstein reminded Sharp that he was in Ohio and not the myriad other states Sharp mentioned.
2. “Every student should have the opportunity to compete in sports.”
– Rep. Mary Lightbody, D-Westerville, who repeatedly argued in favor of trans student participation in athletics throughout the hearing.
3. “I think we have to establish today, in this body, they are not biological males. They are transgender. There is a huge difference. That’s what we need to discuss here. Biological males, as you’re terming them, males assigned at birth who have transgendered, are not biological males. You are confusing the two.”
-Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, who valiantly attempted to correct Sharp’s use of the phrase “biological males,” while still incorrectly using the word “transgender” as a verb. Not eight seconds later, and countless times throughout the rest of the hearing, “biological males” was used by witnesses and Republican representatives to describe transgender females.
4. “You have said something that many of us have heard and feel in this room, and that is the intimidation towards female athletes [regarding] speaking out on this. Why do you think they are being intimidated and who do you think are intimidating them into silence?”
-Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) to witness Kevin Ritter, a Washington County commissioner, invoking the specter of intimidation from…someone. Ritter was not able to identify the source of the intimidation.
5. “Your testimony would mean a lot more to me if you had any experience with the issue we’re talking about today.”
-Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, to Ritter, who positioned himself as an expert on athletic coaching but then later admitted that he has never had any experience coaching a trans athlete.
6. “I believe in inclusiveness.”
-Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, who has been the primary sponsor of previous legislation like last year’s HB 616 ,which would have banned the teaching of inclusiveness.
7. “I’m somebody who has fought all my life for women’s rights…I celebrate equality.”
-Rep. Jean Schmidt, who last year called rape an “opportunity for women.”
8. “The coach would have to know if [the athletes] have transgendered or not.”
-Rep. Schmidt, placing the responsibility on coaches to enforce HB 6.
9. “Don’t. Twist. My. Words.”
-Rep. Schmidt to Rep. Weinstein, who asked Schmidt if she was indeed placing responsibility for enforcing HB 6 on the backs of coaches, as she had previously testified less than 30 seconds earlier.
Now THIS was a moment… pic.twitter.com/sevBTJrNuP
— Ken Schneck (@DrKenSchneck) March 29, 2023
Equality Ohio has an easy-to-complete webform to let the members of the Higher Education committee know your thoughts on HB 6.
This story was originally published by the Buckeye Flame and republished here with permission.
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