On Wednesday, February 2, the Arizona Senate passed SB1165, a bill sponsored by Sen. Nancy Barto, dubbed the “Save Women’s Sports Act.”
The bill is intended to preserve an equal playing ground for girls and women by prohibiting transgender women from competing in K-12 and collegiate women’s sports.
The bill passed in a 16-13 party line vote. It now heads to the House for consideration.
In testimony before the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee, Jadis Argiope, a transgender woman spoke in favor of the bill:
SB1165 “requires any athletic team that is sponsored by a public or private school to be designated based on the biological sex of the student participants. It allows injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law for students or schools that suffer any direct or indirect harm due to a violation.”
PROVISIONS:
- Requires each interscholastic or intramural athletic team or sport sponsored by a public or private school whose students or teams compete against a public school to be expressly designated as one of the following based on the biological sex of the participating students: a) males, men or boys; b) females, women or girls; or c) coed or mixed.
- Prohibits athletic teams or sports designated for females, women or girls from being open to students of the male sex.
- Deems any student eligible to participate in any interscholastic or intramural athletic team or sport designated as being for males, men or boys or designated as coed or mixed.
- Prohibits a government entity, any licensing or accrediting organization or any athletic association or organization from entertaining a complaint, opening an investigation or taking any other adverse action against a school for maintaining separate interscholastic or intramural athletic teams or sports for students of the female sex.
- States that any student who is deprived of an athletic opportunity or suffers any direct or indirect harm as a result of a school knowingly violating the Save Women’s Sports Act has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the school.
- States that any student who is subject to any adverse action by a school or an athletic association because the student reported a violation of the Save Women’s Sports Act has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the school or the athletic association.
- States that any school that suffers any direct or indirect harm because of a violation of the Save Women’s Sports Act has a private cause of action for injunctive relief, damages and any other relief available under law against the government entity, the licensing or accrediting organization or the athletic association or organization.
- Requires all civil actions to be initiated within two years after the alleged violation of the Save Women’s Sports Act.
- Entitles a person who prevails on a claim brought pursuant to the Save Women’s Sports Act to monetary damages including: a) damages for any psychological, emotional or physical harm suffered; b) reasonable attorney fees; and c) costs and any other appropriate relief.
- Designates this legislation as the Save Women’s Sports Act.