Indiana\u2019s Republican governor has vetoed a bill banning transgender females from participating in girls school sports
On Location: April 1, 2022
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana\u2019s governor on Monday vetoed a bill banning transgender females from participating in girls school sports.
Opponents of the transgender sports bill argued it was a bigoted response to a problem that doesn\u2019t exist, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana saying it planned a lawsuit against what it called \u201chateful legislation.\u201d
Republican sponsors of the bill said it was needed to protect the integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarship but pointed out no instances in the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signaled support for the bill last month but said in his veto letter that the legislation \u201cfalls short\u201d of providing a consistent statewide policy for what he called \u201cfairness in K-12 sports.\u201d
Holcomb also signed a bill eliminating the state\u2019s permit requirement to carry handguns in public.
Holcomb\u2019s decisions come after both measures faced intense opposition before being approved by the GOP-dominated legislature that embraced what have become a pair of conservative causes across the country.
The governor stayed on the sidelines as legislators debated both issues and made his decisions just before his Tuesday deadline to act.
Holcomb, on the transgender sports bill veto, also pointed to the Indiana High School Athletic Association, which has a policy covering transgender students wanting to play sports that match their gender identity and has said it has had no transgender girls finalize a request to play on girls team.
\u201cThe presumption of the policy laid out in HEA 1041 is that there is an existing problem in K-12 sports in Indiana that requires further state government intervention,\u201d Holcomb said in his letter. \u201cIt implies that the goals of consistency and fairness in competitive female sports are not currently being met. After thorough review, I find no evidence to support either claim even if I support the effort overall.\u201d
Indiana lawmakers can override the governor\u2019s veto with simple majorities in both the House and Senate. A veto override vote could happen as soon as May 24, which legislative leaders have scheduled as a tentative one-day meeting.
The Indiana law would prohibit K-12 students who were born male but who identify as female from participating in a sport or on an athletic team that is designated for women or girls. But it wouldn\u2019t prevent students who identify as female or transgender men from playing on men\u2019s sports teams.
Eleven other Republican-led states have adopted such laws that political observers describe as a classic \u201cwedge issue\u201d to motivate conservative supporters after the governors in Iowa and South Dakota signed their bans in recent weeks.
Holcomb\u2019s veto comes seven years after Indiana faced a national uproar over a religious objections law signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence which opponents maintained could be used to discriminate against gays and lesbians. The Republican-dominated Legislature quickly made revisions blocking its use as a legal defense for refusing to provide services and preventing the law from overriding local ordinances with LGBT protections.
Democrats argued Republican lawmakers were following a national conservative \u201cculture war\u201d with the transgender girls sports ban.
\u201cSigning House Bill 1041 into law would have put the lives of our children in jeopardy,\u201d state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmuhl said. \u201cHowever, this unnecessary debate has set a tone with kids that being transgender means something is wrong with them.\u201d
In signing the handgun permit requirement repeal, Holcomb went against the vocal opposition of his state police superintendent to the further loosening of the state\u2019s lenient firearms laws.
The permit repeal, called \u201cconstitutional carry\u201d by gun-rights supporters in reference to the Second Amendment, was criticized by major law enforcement groups who argued eliminating the permit system would endanger officers by stripping them of a screening tool for quickly identifying dangerous people who shouldn\u2019t have guns.
At least 21 other states already allow residents to carry handguns without permit \u2014 and Ohio\u2019s Republican governor signed a similar bill last week.
Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter joined leaders of the state\u2019s Fraternal Order of Police, police chiefs association and county prosecutors association in speaking out against the change.
Carter, wearing his state police uniform, stood in the back of the Senate chamber as the bill was being debated. He said after the vote that approval of the measure \u201cdoes not support law enforcement \u2014 period.\u201d
Holcomb said in a statement that the permit repeal bill \u201centrusts Hoosiers who can lawfully carry a handgun to responsibly do so within our state.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that if a person is prohibited, under federal or state laws, from possessing a firearm before this law goes into effect, that person will still be prohibited,\u201d Holcomb said.
The firearms law, which will take effect July 1, will allow anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except for reasons such as having a felony conviction, facing a restraining order from a court or having a dangerous mental illness. Supporters argue the permit requirement undermines Second Amendment protections by forcing law-abiding citizens to undergo police fingerprinting and background checks.
Carter, the former elected Republican sheriff in central Indiana\u2019s Hamilton County who was first appointed state police superintendent by Pence in 2013, said in a statement he would \u201cwork with law enforcement leaders across our state to make necessary changes to firearms enforcement as well as identifying the best way to identify individuals who are not allowed to carry a firearm as defined by Indiana statute.”
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