More than 10 hours after consideration began on a bill that would ban transgender girls from Alaska's women's sports teams, the Alaska House remained deadlocked on the issue late Saturday.
Parliament is scheduled to adjourn Wednesday, with drawn-out deliberations forcing the postponement of other priorities, including bills to address crime, lingering energy shortages along railroad lines and other education issues.
All but one Republican in the House supports the bill, and a coalition of Democrats, independents and one Republican has vowed to do everything possible to defeat the bill.
Saturday's result was a grueling trench-war-like legislative process in which supporters of the bill either rejected one bill after another or rejected opposing amendments on the table one after another for hours on end.
“We're doing this on behalf of women, young women and girls who want to participate in women's sports,” said Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla.
Supporters of the bill say they do not believe transgender women are women, and that allowing transgender girls to join women's sports teams would “mean there would be no women's sports to participate in. That's unfortunate,” he said.
Opponents of the bill argued vehemently and sometimes emotionally that transgender women are also women and entitled to equal treatment under the law.
“Transgender girls in sports are not a threat to other girls,” said Rep. Donna Mears, an Anchorage Democrat.
Opposition lawmakers have known for months that the bill could be debated in the House of Commons, and had prepared dozens of amendments to elicit debate and kill it.
On Saturday morning, with the House majority poised to introduce these amendments without debate, opposition members angrily refused to take a vote and proceedings halted.
“If you want to set a precedent that you just submit minority amendments because you don't like them, you're going to reap what you sow for years to come,” said Calvin I of Anchorage. said House Minority Leader Schrage.
The comments prompted calls from House Republicans who viewed the comments as a personal threat to House Speaker Kathy Tilton (R-Wasilla) and urged Schrage to “take it out.”
“You brought this on us! You are the majority. You said this is your priority. Protect the children in our district that you are hurting because of this.” Give us our rights,” said Rep. Jenny Armstrong, an Anchorage Democrat, shouting throughout the House chamber.
“Oh yeah, you're discriminating against women!” Rep. Jamie Allard (R-Eagle River) yelled back.
“I'm a woman, Jamie!” Armstrong responded even louder.
A short break caused further interruptions and delays.
“You're making a mockery of this,” said Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake.
“This bill makes a mockery,” Armstrong said.
“Oh, stop,” McCabe said.
“That's not a bill. This is an attack on the children of our state!” Armstrong responded.
Armstrong, who identifies as bisexual, and U.S. Rep. Andrew Gray, a gay Democrat from Anchorage, as well as U.S. Rep. Alyse Galvin (I-Anchorage), who has a transgender daughter. , one of the most ardent opponents of this bill.
“One of my four daughters is not coming to this building. She feels very uncomfortable here. It breaks my heart,” Galvin said.
After Mr. Armstrong's heated exchange, Mr. Tilton and Mr. Schrage negotiated a compromise that allowed the opposition to offer several amendments.
The compromise agreement set strict time limits for each lawmaker to speak on amendments, but even with that limit, each amendment took more than 15 minutes and there were dozens of amendments.
Supporters of the bill declined to comment on each proposal to save time. This led to opponents of the bill taking the floor, arguing that it implied a state's constitutional right to privacy. The bill would require girls to certify that the gender shown on their birth certificate or medical test matches their gender identity.
“It's unfortunate that when we're asking women to give up their constitutional right to play sports… on the 117th day of Congress, we think this is what we should do,” said Rep. Sarah Hannan, D-Juneau. .
Opposition MPs repeatedly proposed a procedural exit ramp to majority MPs and said they were prepared to move forward on the issue if the majority wanted to do so.
However, the Republican majority rejected the bill and the request for an indefinite postponement, and debate continued.
As the debate dragged on into the night, lawmakers realized an important fact. Even after the amendments are finalized, a final vote on the bill itself will not take place until the next legislative day, with further delays promised.
“There is so much hate in this world. Why would we move forward with a bill that will only enable more hate and discrimination? This is insane,” Schrage said.
Get the morning headlines delivered to your inbox
