New Michigan Bill Could Change State’s High School Sports

Playing sports in high school can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable times of someone's life. I can still recount numerous memories from my time playing sports whether that be getting ready for a game in the locker-room, locker-room parties after wins, bus rides to and from games, and more. High school sports aren't a forgotten period, instead they stick with people forever.

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The students in the state of Michigan have been participating in high school sports for over 100 years and there have been hundreds of thousands of athletes who have represented their school. There have been all kinds of people who have helped their school be successful through athletics, now those parameters may be changing.

Over the last couple of years, the stigma surrounding transgender individuals has changed drastically and it is becoming more accepted. Although their lives are getting easier in some sectors, they are getting much more difficult in others, especially in the sports world.

There has been a lot of debate on what gender transgender athletes should compete with and some people are even suggesting that they not be allowed to compete at all or that they must develop specialized leagues for them. So far, no decisions have been made but Michigan is close to making a huge impact on the sports realm.

House Republicans have introduced a bill that prohibits transgender girls from competing in female divisions and even gives students and their families space to sue school districts if they are harmed due to them violating this law. This bill comes after Jason Woolford a Republican from Howell said the MHSAA violated an executive order from President Trump.

The MHSAA hasn't gone back on their policy because of conflicts between the executive order and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act which is a state law that protects individuals from discrimination based on their gender identity or other protected classes. The executive order plans to rescind all federal funding from educational programs that allow transgender girls to compete in girls' sports.

The U.S government has already started investigating the Minnesota State High School Sports Association for this same reason. Currently the MHSSA requires a waiver for transgender girls to play on a girls' sports team and there are 175,000 student athletes in the mitten.

Only 2 waivers were given out last fall, none were awarded in the winter, and there have been none turned in for the spring at this current moment and the waivers are not required for boys' sports. This puts the MHSAA in an interesting position considering they don't receive federal funding.

The bill hasn't had a house hearing yet so it may get shut down immediately or we may be in for a long battle between the two sides and finding out what they consider to be the right course of action to take.