HELENA, Mont. — A Montana bill that seeks to ensure fair competition in school sports by prohibiting biological males from joining women’s teams will now advance to the full state House of Representatives after narrowly being approved by a legislative committee.
“[T]he legislature finds that there are ‘inherent differences between men and women,’ and that these differences ‘remain cause for celebration but not for denigration of the members of either sex or for artificial contracts on an individual’s opportunity,’” House Bill 112, presented by Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, reads in part.
Quoting from an article from British psychologist Neel Burton, the legislation notes that “men generally have ‘denser, stronger bones, tendons, and ligaments’ and ‘larger hearts, greater lung volume per body mass, a higher red blood cell count, and higher hemoglobin.”
Higher levels of testosterone in men also contribute to their “body fat content, the storage and use of carbohydrates, and the development of type 2 muscle fibers, all of which result in men being able to generate higher speed and power during physical activity,” the bill outlines.
The legislation consequently notes that sports teams are separated by sex for a reason: to promote fair competition.
It then requires that “interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by a public elementary or high school, a public institution of higher education, or any school or institution whose students or teams compete against a public school or institution of higher education” expressly designate sports teams as being for males, females or co-ed.
“Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex,” the bill simply states.
It enshrines the right of female students who lose athletic opportunity due to the unlawful inclusion of biological males to take legal action, as well as any school that faces adverse action from an athletic association or other similar body.
Fuller is himself a former women’s soccer coach and believes allowing boys who identify as girls who compete against females is “is egregious and wrong.”
He also believes that laws that require biological males to take hormone suppressors for a year before being allowed to join women’s teams is equally as wrong.
“Drugs in sports is a growing concern,” Fuller said, according to the Montana Free Press. “What is wrong with this picture, where we are requiring athletes of a certain particular portion of the population to take large amounts of drugs, drugs we do not know what the long-term effects will be, in order for them to be eligible to compete? I contend that that’s a path to perdition.”
During the hearing for the bill, some agreed with Fuller, including Beth Stelzer, founder of the Save Women’s Sports coalition, who told the committee that transgender competition against women “undermines the sole purpose of Title IX. ”
“It is unethical, unfair, unnecessary, unscientific and unsound,” she said.
“None of us wants to be defined by the things that we did when we were younger. I certainly don’t want to be defined by the things that I did when I was younger,” also commented Jeff Laszloffy of the Christian Montana Family Foundation. “And that’s the point. Children should not make irreversible decisions at a time in life when they’re going through the greatest change. Let’s give them a chance to grow up first.”
However, liberal female minister Laura Jean Allen, who leads First Christian Church in Helena, presented a letter signed by 43 “clergy” members who oppose the legislation. Other organizations such as the Montana Gender Alliance and the Montana Human Rights Network are also against the effort.
The House Judiciary Committee narrowly sided with Fuller on Thursday, voting 11-8 to allow the bill to move to the full House for a vote.
Read the legislation in full here.
As previously reported, on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order suggesting that his administrative policy will be to allow “transgenders” nationwide to use their preferred restroom and locker room, and to play on the sports team that corresponds with their “gender identity.”
It is not known how his order will impact states such as Montana who will potentially pass their own legislation conversely protecting women’s sports.
A similar bill has been has been filed in North Dakota and Oklahoma, and federal legislation was also presented last month by Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
THE GOSPEL
While some view transgenderism as a medical condition, Christians believe the matter is also a spiritual issue at its root — one that stems from the same predicament all men everywhere face due to the Fall.
The Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various innate feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God and being utterly incapable of breaking free by themselves.
“Bitter experience teaches that the imprisoning net clings too tightly to be stripped from our limbs by our own efforts. Nay rather, the net and the captive are one, and he who tries to cast off the oppression which hinders him from following that which is good is trying to cast off himself,” wrote the late preacher and Bible commentator Alexander Maclaren.
Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being a new creation in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven. It is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration.
The Bible explains the dichotomy of flesh and spirit, stating in Romans 8:5-8, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
“But to men writhing in the grip of a sinful past, or paralyzed beyond writhing and indifferent, because [they are] hopeless, or because they have come to like their captivity,” said Maclaren, “comes one whose name is ‘The Breaker,’ whose mission it is to proclaim liberty to the captives, and whose hand laid on the cords that bind a soul, causes them to drop harmless from the limbs and sets the bondsman free.”
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