Fears of witch hunts over Utah ban on trans athletes in girls’ sports

[Jessica_Rose]

Fears of witch hunts over Utah ban on trans athletes in girls' sports

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fears-of-witch-hunts-over-utah-ban-on-trans-athletes-in-girls-sports/ar-BB1iUfnE?ocid=windirect&cvid=0373b4f9ef6d482ede1041e279772f4c&ei=13

Story by Karin Brulliard (26 Feb 2024)

The Facebook post was not out of the norm for the member of the Utah State Board of Education, a woman known for her hard-right views: It showed a high school girls' basketball team in the Salt Lake City area and falsely suggested one player was transgender.

But it ignited a firestorm.

All of this month's outrage has been cold comfort to transgender Utahns and their advocates, however. They view Cline's post as the alarming yet predictable outcome of anti-trans state policies that they believe encourage vigilantism — including a law to bar transgender girls from competing on girls' sports teams. The latest controversy, they say, has only buttressed the idea that being identified as transgender is a slur.

"If it really was a trans person, would we have gotten the same reaction?" asked Sue Robbins, a transgender activist in Salt Lake City. "Or would we have had an outcry against that trans person?"

Transgender rights advocates see a witch-hunt type atmosphere spreading as states enact a flurry of laws seeking to restrain trans people. Utah last year prohibited gender-affirming care for minors and in January passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government buildings that align with the sex they were assigned at birth.