The Tennessee Senate passed SB0228 Bill on Monday, a move which bans participation of transgender athletes from female designated sports. The Bill, introduced earlier this year, passed with a vote of 27-6 and amends Title 49 of the Tennessee Code.

In its push for biological determinism over one’s self-identified gender, the Bill requires a student athlete’s gender for purposes of participation in a public middle school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event to be determined based on the student’s sex as assigned at the time of the student’s birth. The Bill furthermore requires for reliance to be placed on a student athlete’s gender as indicated on the student’s original birth certificate, or any other evidentiary document determinant of one’s sex assigned at birth.

The Bill additionally requires the state board of education, each local board of education, and each governing body of a public charter school to adopt and enforce policies in order to ensure compliance with participation of students in athletic activities based on their sex determined at birth.

Hedy Weinberg, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee responded to this bill by stating:

Protecting women’s sports is important, but transgender girls do not threaten them. The vast majority of transgender students are not elite athletes. They just want to play sports for fun, with friends and classmates, to feel a sense of community and camaraderie, and to learn to respect and work together with coaches and teammates. We should not deny these life-changing opportunities to youth just because they are transgender.

The bill is now pending approval from the House of Representatives.