Transgender sports ban bills have been a litmus test issue for Republican governors nationwide. Those who sign these bills into law are the real deal. By contrast, those who cower and avoid the issue are spineless elected officials who must be relieved of the burden of holding higher office. This is how the game is playing out in this tense culture war.
Utah governor Spencer Cox has provided Republicans nationwide a lurid example of what not to do when you’re a statewide elected official. On March 22, 2022, he vetoed House Bill 11, a bill that would have prohibited transgender youth from competing in sports. The governor rationalized his vote by saying that he “tried to do what I feel is the right thing regardless of the consequences.”
The Utah Senate voted for HB 11 21-8. Similarly, the Utah House voted for the bill by a resounding 56-18 margin. According to a report by Jordan Dixon-Hamilton at Breitbart News, “Eight Utah legislators changed their initial votes and joined the supermajority” thereby providing the supermajority vote necessary to override Cox’s veto. Per Utah’s constitution, a two-thirds vote from both of its legislative chambers is needed to override a veto.
The Utah State Legislature had to give Cox a sober reminder of where Republican constituents standards on senstive issues like transgender bans in sports. Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is one of the elected officials who represents the many disaffected grassroots voters that are absolutely horrified by the Left’s attempts to socially re-engineer sexual norms.
She congratulated the Utah legislature for overriding this veto in a Tweet she posted on March 26, 2022. Boebert tweeted, “As a woman, a female adult human, I applaud the Utah legislature’s part in overriding the Governor’s veto & banning men from women’s sports. There is no place for this in any reasonable, rational society. Mediocre male athletes should simply try harder if they want first place.”
As a woman, a female adult human, I applaud the Utah legislature’s part in overriding the Governor’s veto & banning men from women’s sports.
There is no place for this in any reasonable, rational society.
Mediocre male athletes should simply try harder if they want first place.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) March 26, 2022
The Colorado Congresswoman is correct. There should be zero tolerance for males competing in women’s sports. There also should be zero tolerance for Republican governors who refuse to sign legislation that bans males from entering female sports. This is a litmus test issue for the Right that cannot be overlooked.
Utah Republicans should strongly consider looking at finding potential primary challengers for Cox. Such political dereliction must be punished during the primaries by the grassroots.
