Indiana House lawmakers passed a measure to ban transgender women from competing in collegiate sports Tuesday. The bill seeks to codify a recent executive order from President Donald Trump.
Rep. Michelle Davis (R-Whiteland), House Bill 1041’s author, said the legislation is about fairness.
“Ensuring fairness in collegiate sports is essential to protecting opportunities for female collegiate athletes,” Davis said.
But Rep. Blake Johnson (D-Indianapolis) said the bill does nothing to address existing inequities in athletic opportunities.
“If we truly cared about fairness, we’d be debating bills to invest in girls sports, to expand access and strengthen competition,” Johnson said. “Instead — we’re debating a manufactured culture war issue.”
The NCAA’s president said there are fewer than 10 transgender collegiate athletes among the association’s more than 500,000. The NCAA changed its transgender athlete policy earlier this month to conform with Trump’s executive order.
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Rep. Martin Carbaugh (R-Fort Wayne) said the measure is necessary — and he “feel[s] very badly for those athletes.”
“You have to just play in the sports league that matches your biology,” he said.
But there isn’t evidence to suggest transgender women have an advantage over their cisgender counterparts. The limited studies on transgender athletes suggests that transgender women who receive gender-affirming care have "no clear biological advantages" in elite sports — and may even perform worse.
Those studies supported the NCAA’s previous policy, which mandated limits on testosterone for transgender female athletes.
Republicans and Democrats split both in support and opposition to the bill. It now goes to the Senate.
Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social.