Texas Legislature advances transgender college athlete restrictions to Gov. Greg Abbott

The Texas Legislature has advanced a bill that would require student-athletes to compete on college sports teams that align with their sex assigned at birth to Gov. Greg Abbott to sign into law.

The Texas Senate on Friday accepted the House's amendments to Senate Bill 15, which supporters have dubbed the Save Women’s Sports Act. If the bill becomes law, transgender women would have to play on men’s collegiate sports teams and transgender men would have to play on women’s teams.

Abbott has previously indicated he would sign the bill.

SB 15, by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, would create an avenue for "injunctive relief" against public higher education institutions and college sports teams in Texas that violate the law and would prohibit universities from retaliating against anyone for reporting violations. It also would allow women to compete against men in sports if a corresponding women’s team is not offered or available.

More: Trans athletes in teams that align with their gender identity? Texas House weighs proposal

“It really just comes down to one thing, and that's fairness for something generations of women have fought for, which is the opportunity to compete in college sports,” Middleton previously told the American-Statesman. “One of the main purposes of (the bill) is, why are women being asked to give up fairness but men are not in college sports?”

The Texas House voted 95-50 in favor of the legislation in May, and the Texas Senate gave its approval with a 19-10 vote in March.

The proposal is one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s 30 priorities this legislative session. Patrick also prioritized a proposal to prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming care to minors experiencing gender dysphoria, which the Legislature advanced to the governor earlier this month.

While supporters of the bill say it promotes fairness in sports and protects cisgender female athletes, transgender Texans and other opponents have argued that it discriminates against a very small group of people who already face challenges to feeling included.

More: ACLU plans to sue Texas over ban on certain medical treatments for transgender kids

"Trans people deserve not only the care they need to live; they deserve to thrive and play," Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas, previously said in a statement to the Statesman. "College students are at a formative period in their lives and learning from and bonding with their teammates is an essential part of life for athletic young people. Trans people, no less than every other Texan, deserve to scrimmage and spar with their peers.”

According to a limited list by Outsports, 36 openly transgender athletes nationwide have competed in college sports, including at community colleges and junior colleges, in the past decade. The list does not name any athletes who have competed or are competing while attending a university in Texas.

The American-Statesman previously asked every four-year public university in Texas that participates in NCAA-sanctioned sports whether they have ever had a transgender athlete compete, and none said yes. Several schools did not respond to the Statesman's requests.

The legislation to enact limits on transgender public college athletes comes two years after the Legislature passed a similar bill that bans transgender student-athletes in public K-12 schools from competing on a team that aligns with their gender identity.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature: Lawmakers OK transgender college athlete limits