Indiana House will try to override governor’s veto of transgender athlete bill
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana House leaders on Tuesday said they will try to overturn Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of a bill to ban transgender girls from girls’ K-12 sports teams.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after Holcomb’s office announced his veto of House Bill 1041. The governor cited a lack of evidence of transgender girls outcompeting non-transgender girls in Indiana and court rulings that have paused similar laws in at least two other states so far.
House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, said in a statement the goal of the legislation is to protect competition in girls’ sports.
Bill author Rep. Michelle Davis, R-Whiteland, said in an accompanying statement girls and boys should remain separated in competition due to biological differences between them.
“This commonsense legislation would protect athletic opportunities for Hoosier girls right now and into the future,” Davis said.
If the legislature overrides the governor, it would mark the first time state lawmakers anywhere in the United States overrode a chief executive on legislation of this type.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, both Democrats, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, all vetoed similar legislation last year, and Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox did the same Tuesday with a transgender athlete bill lawmakers delivered to his desk. Those states all require two-thirds majorities to override gubernatorial vetoes, unlike the simple majority required in Indiana.
LGBTQ+ rights groups say lawmakers would do well to heed the concerns Holcomb laid out in his veto message. They say the arguments the bill’s supporters have put forth do not match the reality most student athletes face.
Emma Vosicky, the executive director of Indianapolis-based LGBTQ resource group GenderNexus and a transgender woman, says it’s been hard to listen to arguments that stigmatize transgender people.
“I’m just glad I have a good solid base to work from. I’m not even a 12-year-old who does not have that base and is still trying to figure out how to process what’s being said about them,” Vosicky said.
ACLU of Indiana Advocacy and Public Policy Director Katie Blair says the ACLU still plans to file a lawsuit if lawmakers overturn the governor’s decision.