Ohio’s bid to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports fails

(Daily Caller) – The Ohio state House of Representatives failed to pass a bill that would have banned transgender athletes from competing in sports outside of their biological gender, despite passing the Ohio state Senate only hours before.

The bill was first introduced in the House in June by Rep. Jena Powell and originally included a line requiring athletes to undergo a physical exam to determine their biological gender, according to FOX 8. During a 2 a.m. vote, the House failed to pass the bill after the state Senate included it in Senate bill 178, which stripped the State Board of Education of significant powers and gave control of educational policy enforcement to the governor Wednesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Powell’s championed the bill as the “Save Women’s Sports Act” and claimed it could give female athletes “a fair shot.”

“The Save Women’s Sports Act is a fairness issue for women,” Powell stated in a press release. “Across our country, female athletes are currently losing championships, scholarship opportunities, medals, education and training opportunities, and more to discriminatory policies that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports.”

Selina Soule and Alanna Smith, two former Connecticut high school track athletes, speak during an “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza on June 23, 2022, in Washington, DC. The rally, organized by multiple athletic women’s groups, was held to call on U.S. President Joe Biden to put restrictions on transgender females and “advocate to keep women’s sports female”. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Ohio state Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on Wednesday by a 23-7 vote. Senate President Matt Huffman said nothing was added that the House didn’t already want, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

“These are the things that Speaker (Bob) Cupp said he wanted in the bill and so we put it in the bill…” Huffman stated. “Everything that we changed in this bill was at the House’s request. We did all the changes they asked and here we are.”

Powell’s physical exam requirement was removed by the time the bill reached the House for the General Assembly vote. Following the vote, the bill will be sent to the conference committee and potentially reintroduced to the General Assembly in 2023, according to FOX 8.

Powell and Huffman did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.