Former public school teacher and current Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) said Tuesday “modern science” recognizes there are “six” sexes.
During a public education committee meeting that heard testimony on Texas HB 4042, a bill to protect female-only sports in K-12 schools, Talarico, who has a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard, said:
The thing I want us all to be aware of is that, that modern science obviously recognizes there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six, which, honestly, Rep. [Cole] Hefner, surprised me, surprised me, too, because I, I, you know, am not well-versed in this, this issue area. I’m not a scientist, I’m a politician, a lot worse than a scientist.
However, amateur powerlifter Beth Stelzer, the founder of Save Women’s Sports, a coalition that seeks to preserve women’s sports for biological women, testified at the meeting, observing there have been “several scientific studies proving that the male advantage is immutable, and that there, in fact, are two sexes – they are dimorphic, XX, XY.”
“The other quote sex is mentioned are disorders of sexual development that are variants of XX or XY chromosome,” Stelzer added. “They are still disorders of male or female.”
As Save Women’s Sports reported on its website, the coalition “does not fully endorse” HB 4042 “due to its lack of protections for college athletes.”
Last week, the Texas Senate approved Senate Bill 29, along party lines, which would ban transgender students from competing in sports based on their gender identity.
“This is about protecting female athletes and recognizing their accomplishments within their biological peer group,” said Texas Sen. Charles Perry (R), who authored the bill that would prohibit boys from competing in girls’ sports, regardless of their gender identity.
Under the legislation, girls could compete in a boys’ sport if a comparable female-only sport is not available.
State Sen. José Menéndez (D) opposed the bill, stating children with gender dysphoria “know they are not what their birth certificate says.”
“That’s why we’re creating a problem that we don’t need to,” he said, reported the Austin American-Statesman. “I think this concern for the student athlete needs to be for the whole student as well.”
However, Texas Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R), who played girls’ softball as a child and then collegiate golf, backs the bill.
“I believe that this is the women’s rights issue of our time,” she said.
That bill is now at the Texas House for consideration.
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