Representatives of the state of California won’t be traveling to West Virginia with taxpayer funds as a result of the legislature’s ban on young transgender-athletes playing sports.
In September of 2016, the California Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown approved AB 1887, a bill prohibiting any California state agency or the Legislature from “requiring any of its employees, officers, or members to travel to, or approving a request for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to any that that … has enacted a law that voids or repeals … protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
“Assembly Bill 1887 is about aligning our dollars with our values,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “When states discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans, California law requires our office to take action. These new additions to the state-funded travel restrictions list are about exactly that. It’s been 52 years to the day since the Stonewall Riots began, but that same fight remains all too alive and well in this country. Rather than focusing on solving real issues, some politicians think it’s in their best interest to demonize trans youth and block life-saving care. Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it.”
According to the press release issued by Bonta’s office, “West Virginia is being added to California’s state-funded travel restrictions list as a result of House Bill 3293. Signed into law on April 28, House Bill 3293 prevents transgender women and girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. Given the effective date for the new law, West Virginia, pursuant to AB 1887, will be added to California’s travel restrictions list on July 8, 2021.”
Currently, there are 17 states on California’s state-funded travel restrictions list.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey criticized the ban on state-sponsored travel, citing the Constitutional ability of each state to govern itself, stating “federalism works best when individual states can pursue policies supported by their own constituents.”
“States should not penalize other states because of policy differences,” Morrisey said. “The economic coercion demonstrated by California is an affront to the dignity of other co-sovereign states and amounts to legislating across state borders in an effort to force the radical world view of large states onto those living elsewhere. … West Virginia is a beautiful state, and I continually urge everyone – in California and elsewhere – to experience its magnificent hills, streams and adventure, as well as its loving people.”
In a recent COVID-19 press briefing, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice again dismissed the genders of these young women and cited a gut feeling about “fairness” in supporting the ban, rather than the more nuanced guidelines of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission and National Collegiate Athletic Association, which had been in place for years before H.B. 3293 was signed.
“They’ll make their way through the courts, I think it’s way premature to decide. … From the standpoint of West Virginia, I don’t think anybody here is discriminating against transgender people,” Justice said. “My whole thought, and I can’t speak for all people, is that I thought it was terribly, terrible unfair to our girls who are trying to compete athletically to have to compete against those folks that are transgender. I think that’s the whole thing from my standpoint, it has nothing to do with discrimination in any way. I hope and pray that West Virginia is always a very welcoming state and loves everyone.”
Justice doubted the economic impact would be enough to make a difference and noted the “state of California does some pretty strange stuff from time to time.”
Meanwhile, the case brought against West Virginia by the ACLU on behalf of an 11-year-old girl who wants to run track at school continues.
Recently, the Department of Justice advised the court overseeing the lawsuit “of its view that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment do not permit West Virginia to categorically exclude transgender girls from participating in single-sex sports restricted to girls.”
“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” reads the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff in the ACLU’s lawsuit just wants to be a prepubescent kid.
“I just want to run, I come from a family of runners,” said 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson. “I know how hurtful a law like this is to all kids like me who just want to play sports with their classmates, and I’m doing this for them. Trans kids deserve better.”
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