(Boise, ID) The Idaho House State Affairs Committee on Thursday morning voted to move forward with a resolution praising the Boise State University women’s volleyball team for forfeiting its matches against San José State University.
Last year, Boise State forfeited two of its matches against San José State University during the regular season in protest of the team having a transgender athlete. The Broncos also forfeited in a match against the university during the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Idaho Press reported.
Boise State was the first in the Mountain West to withdraw from its matches against San José State University. Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada – Mountain West teams — and Southern Utah, followed suit, AP news reported.
House Concurrent Resolution 2, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, “reaffirms Idaho’s commitment to protecting female athletes under Title IX,” and it calls on the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA to revoke its policies allowing transgender athletes to participate in sports.
The committee voted to send the legislation to the House floor with a recommendation that it pass. The concurrent resolution doesn’t have the force of law. Instead, it expresses the opinion of the Legislature on a topic.
Supporters say legislation stands up to discrimination, opponents say it impacts marginalized group
Riley Gaines, a former swimmer for the University of Kentucky, presented the bill virtually alongside Ehardt. Gaines tied for fifth place in the 200 freestyle final at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Championships against University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who is transgender.
“It cannot be understated the amount of courage it took for (Boise State University) to do that,” Gaines said. “They set the standard for the rest of the nation at all sports across all levels.”
Three others spoke in support of the legislation, including Idaho Family Policy Center Policy Assistant Edward Clark; Marshi Smith, the co-founder for the Independent Council on Women’s Sports; and April Chainey, a mom whose child plays in the Mountain West Conference.
One individual, Nikson Mathews, spoke against the resolution. Mathews is an LGBTQ+ advocate from Boise. He said this issue is being mischaracterized as a crisis, despite NCAA President Charlie Baker testifying in December that there are fewer than 10 transgender college student-athletes among 510,000 athletes total.
“This conversation is about a small marginalized group, not a widespread issue,” Mathews said. “There’s also really strict policies already in place by the NCAA to make sure that competition is fair and safe. These policies were developed with the input from scientists and athletic experts.”
Two members — Rep. Brooke Green and Rep. Todd Achilles, both Boise Democrats— voted against the motion to move the resolution forward.
“I’m not going to support this because this does perpetrate a message that is still hurtful to a community who feels marginalized,” Green said. “… NCAA, this rests with you. Clearly, this conversation still needs to continue. Women have spoken, trans women athletes have spoken. Do we have it right?”
This story appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.
