Tue Feb 22, 2022 – 4:21 pm EST
DES MOINES, Iowa (LifeSiteNews) — The Iowa House voted 55-39 Monday to approve a bill that would disqualify biological males suffering gender dysphoria from participating in schools’ and universities’ female athletic programs.
“This bill is not about discrimination. This bill is about protection,” said Republican state Rep. Skyler Wheeler of the measure, the Des Moines Register reports. “Ladies and gentlemen of the House, it’s simple: Girls should not be sidelined in their own sports.”
An earlier version of the bill only covered kindergarten through high school, but it was amended Monday to include both public and private colleges. Companion legislation is currently pending before the Republican-controlled state Senate that applies to all of those categories except private colleges.
It remains to be seen whether the discrepancy will be a point of contention between the two legislative chambers, but Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign it into law. Previously she called on the legislature to take action on the issue, without committing to specific language before reading it.
“Girls have dreams and aspirations of earning a scholarship to help pay for college,” the governor said earlier
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