Illinois State Representative Amy Grant (R) spoke out against allowing transgender girls to play girls' sports in an interview with the DuPage Policy Journal.
"I believe that boys that have transgendered to girls should not be competing against women born that way," Grant said. "Women should not have to contend with this."
Grant also said that transgender women have an unfair advantage over cisgender women, as the former has more muscle mass and are much stronger than the latter.
"It’s not good for women’s rights," she said. "We’ve struggled with women being able to get equal pay and advance in corporations, and now it's okay to have a male competing against females athletically. I think most people agree that boys should be competing in competitive sports against boys. Even in cases where the boys have taken hormonal replacement, their muscle mass is different."
In an effort to overturn an Indiana law prohibiting transgender students from participating in school sports, Illinois joined 13 other states in the filing of a legal brief in 2022.
Following President Joe Biden's recent announcement regarding his amending the parameters of Title 9, the Prairie State Wire reported that Illinois is currently one of 29 states that allow transgender girls to compete in girls' sports at the high school level. The other 28 states are as follows: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In March 2022 transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won two titles in the women's NCAA swimming championship in the 500-yard freestyle, earning the ire of many including University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with Thomas and called her a "cheat."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who signed legislation banning transgender girls from girls' sports in April 2021, called Thomas' participation in women's events an effort to "destroy women's athletics.
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