Holcomb’s hokum

OPINION:

Indiana’s Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, had it right the first time.

Mr. Holcomb should reverse himself again — unflip-flop, so to speak — and renew his support for a ban on transgender “female” athletes playing on girls and women’s sports teams in the Hoosier State.

If he doesn’t, the Indiana General Assembly should reject his late-breaking and flimsily argued opposition, override his March 21 veto and enact HB 1041 into law.

Mr. Holcomb had previously said he “adamantly” agreed that “boys should be playing boys sports, and girls should be playing girls sports, and mixed sports should be just that.”

That’s precisely what’s stipulated in the Participation in School Sports bill. It states in part that “a male, based on a student’s biological sex at birth … may not participate on an athletic team or sport designated under this section as being a female, women’s, or girls’ athletic team or sport.”

The Indiana governor defended his veto by saying that HB 1041 would put schools at risk of being sued and further implied that it was a solution in search of a problem in any case.

In a letter to lawmakers, Mr. Holcomb wrote that “the presumption of the policy laid out in [the bill] is that there is an existing problem in K-12 sports in Indiana that requires further state government intervention.”

“It implies that the goals of consistency and fairness in competitive female sports are not currently being met,” he wrote, adding: “After thorough review, I find no evidence to support either claim, even if I support the overall goal.”

Both arguments are, in a word, meritless.

Mr. Holcomb is right about one thing, however: The state is going to be sued if it passes HB 1041. That’s what the LBGTQ lobby and its ACLU Praetorian Guards always do, and they count on intimidation to get their opponents to back down.

But Todd Rokita, Indiana’s Republican attorney general, called the measure “an important step in protecting youth sports.”

“We stand by the law and will vigorously defend it in court if, and hopefully when, the General Assembly overrides the veto,” Mr. Rokita wrote on Twitter.
 
Threats of lawsuits from LBGTQ groups didn’t deter Republican governors in 11 other states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia — from signing similar bans into law.

Coming just four days after Lia (born Will) Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team won the 500-yard women’s freestyle at the NCAA Division 1 championship in Atlanta, Mr. Holcomb’s veto constitutes willful blindness to the threat these faux females pose to girls and women’s athletics.

Perhaps if Emma Weyant were Mr. Holcomb’s daughter, he might not be so cavalier about it. Ms. Weyant, a University of Virginia freshman, finished second in that 500-yard freestyle, 1.75 seconds behind Thomas, so would have won had the latter not been allowed to participate.

As if to send shots across the bow of his fellow GOP chief executive (and the LBGTQ left), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 22 issued a proclamation declaring Ms. Weyant, a Floridian, the “rightful winner.”

“By allowing men to compete in women’s sports, the NCAA is destroying opportunities for women, making a mockery of its championships, and perpetuating a fraud,” Mr. DeSantis tweeted. “In Florida, we reject these lies and recognize Sarasota’s Emma Weyant as the best women’s swimmer in the 500y freestyle.”

“I’m disappointed with Gov. Holcomb’s veto of a commonsense bill that frankly doesn’t go far enough to save women’s sports,” Rep. Jim Banks, Indiana Republican, tweeted. “My hope is that the Indiana General Assembly will meet soon to override the veto and send a message to the rest of the nation that Indiana values women.”

Happily, that’s likely to happen, because the Indiana state Senate approved the Participation in School Sports bill on a vote of 32-18 on March 1 after it had passed the state House 66-30 on Jan. 27. In Indiana, it requires only a simple majority, not a supermajority, to override a gubernatorial veto.

Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston and HB 1041’s sponsor, Rep. Michelle Davis, a former Division 1 college athlete herself, issued a statement on March 22 saying they had every intention of overriding the governor’s veto when the General Assembly reconvenes on May 24. As well they should.