Utah passes transgender sports ban over governor's veto

Utah's Republican-dominated legislature overrode the governor's veto on Friday to pass a ban a bill banning transgender girls from participating in women's school sports, NPR reports.

The Utah House of Representatives voted 56-18 in favor of HB11, while the Senate voted 21-8, according to Deseret News. The bill determines sex according to "an individual's genetics and anatomy at birth."

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) spent several months working to broker a compromise that would have set up a commission that would make decisions about transgender student-athletes on an individual basis, USA Today reported. After negotiations broke down, Cox vetoed the bill on Tuesday, a move that drew the ire of cultural conservatives. Cox said he was motivated by a desire to "err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion."

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Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh accused Cox of "gutlessness" and said conservatives should begin "exiling" such "cowards" from the Republican Party. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall (D), who opposed the bill, tweeted, "I'm at a loss ... I'm ashamed at the way some of our state's leaders are playing politics with children's lives."

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) vetoed a similar bill on Monday, claiming to see "no evidence" of "an existing problem in K-12 sports in Indiana that requires further state government intervention."

The Utah bill initially passed without supermajorities in either chamber, but 10 Republicans in the House and five in the Senate who initially voted against the bill supported it this time, providing the votes necessary to override Cox's veto, according to NPR.

The law is set to take effect on July 1.