Arizona State Senator Sine Kerr is responding to calls from girls and women and sponsoring a bill they say is critical to protecting them in throughout Arizona.
Kerr’s bill, SB 1628, is intended to bring clarity and uniformity to state laws governing sex discrimination and equality of the sexes.
Kerr says the bill helps preserve sex-specific spaces and clarifies relevant definitions to ensure the safety and well-being of girls and women in Arizona.
Under SB 1628, “sex” is defined as a person’s biological sex, either male or female, for all purposes of state law. It preserves single-sex spaces to ensure girls’ and women’s safety and privacy in those spaces, while not changing current law or creating new restrictions on anyone’s legal rights.
“Laws should be based in objective reality and uniform for all Arizonans,” said Kerr in a press release. “Men and boys have been encroaching on girls’ and women’s private spaces, like locker rooms and showers, as well as sports teams, robbing women from athletic opportunities and putting them in danger as they face physically stronger males in competition. SB 1628 supports women and girls in their rights to privacy, fairness, and safety on the playing field.”
Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer and Independent Women’s Voice Ambassador Paula Scanlan joined Senator Kerr at a press conference on Tuesday and spoke with lawmakers about the importance of this bill.
Gary Snyder, a candidate for LD 25, joined Kerr and her fellow lawmakers on Tuesday in support of the bill. “As a former professional athlete, I am a staunch advocate for fairness and woman’s right to compete on a level playing field. This bill will see that young women are not robbed of the opportunities athletes like myself have had.”
“Unfortunately, common sense terms defining the most basic rules of humanity must be carefully spelled out for lawyers and politicians who would use people as political pawns–especially women and girls,” said Kim Miller, Director of Arizona Women of Action. “SB 1628 logically and specifically defines ‘woman,’ ‘man’ and other terms. Sadly, we really need this bill to protect kids, women, and men in Arizona.”
🚺 Known as the Women’s Bill of Rights, this bill defines that there are only two sexes, which protects the very essence of what it means to be a woman.
Use RTS to give this @SineKerr bill a 👍https://t.co/3NPaylPSV4 pic.twitter.com/rf5s45FcuP
— Arizona Women of Action (@azwomenofaction) February 7, 2024
Scanlan was forced to share a locker room and compete with Lia Thomas, a trans-identifying male swimmer.
Despite pressure to keep silent, Scanlan is speaking out against the abuses women and girls are dealing with.
“I am happy to support the introduction of the Women’s Bill of Rights in Arizona. With more than 3.5 million women living in the state, this bill would have an incredible impact in providing scientifically-sound protections for women and their personal spaces. Having experienced firsthand the injustices of inviting males into women’s private areas and allowing them to steal athletic accolades from young ladies dedicating their lives to their chosen sports, I know the incredible importance of having legislation that stops these reckless new norms.”
“Girls and women deserve to be safe in the places where they are most vulnerable, and we have seen far too many examples of girls and women physically injured, relegated to the bench, and bumped off the winner’s podium by males competing as females,” added Senator Kerr.
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