By Bob Katzen

During the debate on the surtax, Freshman Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver) proposed an amendment that would prohibit any public school from allowing a biological male athlete to participate on a girls’ sports team and also prohibit a biological female athlete from participating on a boys’ sports team. Any school found not in compliance with this ban would forfeit all games which violate the ban.

“For too long Massachusetts has put girls at risk in sports,” said Gaskey. “There have been several instances of boys seriously injuring girls on the field during matches. This is not a transgender issue alone, this is protecting children and creating a system of fair competition. Boys are stronger, faster and more aggressive, and put girls, who are more prone to injury (Harvard study), at greater risk. Massachusetts is putting federal funding at risk by not addressing this requirement as well.”

The House did not vote on the ban itself because Rep. Ken Gordon (D-Bedford) offered a further amendment that would delay the ban from taking place until the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education studies the transgender students in school sports issue. The House approved the delay and essentially killed Gaskey’s bill. The vote was conducted on a voice vote without a roll call.

Rep. Gordon said that the issue is not a simple one but rather a complex one, involving issues of federal and state law, and also is the subject of multiple bills that are being considered by the Committee on Education, including one proposed by Gaskey himself. He argued that the study and a public hearing on the ban should be complete before the House votes on it.

In his first speech on the floor of the House, Gaskey called Gordon’s maneuver “a way to bury this and make sure that nobody ever gets this on the record.”

“We don’t need a study on how this is going to affect people,” he said. “We already know this is going to affect people. We already know how many students are going to be affected — every student is going to be affected. Every student athlete will play on the team they were born to play on. That’s what this bill is.”
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He said his proposed ban would bring Massachusetts in line with the federal government because President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.