On Wednesday, Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines shot back at North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for his veto of the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, pointing to the long term, serious injuries of North Carolina female teen volleyball player Payton McNabb.
Governor Cooper of NC vetoed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act today.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) July 6, 2023
Hey Gov, reminder that this happened to a girl in your state. She is partially paralyzed on her right side & her vision is still impaired
Its not me who has to go to sleep tonight knowing I’m enabling this pic.twitter.com/ovW7RquG90
Gaines shared actual video footage of McNabb sustaining a head injury from a biological male on the opposing team during a high school women’s volleyball game. McNabb still suffers long-term learning disabilities, migraines, and neck and back pain. McNabb shared her experience, and her pain, with lawmakers in April to encourage them to pass the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, which would bar biological males from participating in sports designated for biological females.
“The rest of my team was terrified because they didn’t want it to happen to them too, but the other team, the one with the transgender athlete on it, they just kinda laughed,” McNabb told lawmakers.
Today Gov Cooper discarded the safety and opportunities of female athletes for the feelings of males. With this veto, he discounted my long-term injuries by a transgender player, and overlooked women’s Title IX rights. Praying for an override. #ncpol
— payton mcnabb (@paytonmcnabb_) July 5, 2023
In issuing his trio of vetoes, Cooper alluded to the Fairness in Women’s Sports bill, saying that it “hurt vulnerable children.”
Republicans are serving up a triple threat of political culture wars using government to invade the rights and responsibilities of parents and doctors, hurting vulnerable children and damaging our state’s reputation and economy like they did with the harmful bathroom bill. 1/2
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) July 5, 2023
House Bill 574 passed the Senate June 19 on a 31-17 vote. All present Republicans voted in favor of the measure, along with Democratic Sen. Val Applewhite, D-Cumberland. All other Senate Democrats opposed the bill. H.B. 574 originated in the House, passing the chamber 73-39 in April. The vote set up a potential conflict between Cooper and Applewhite as Cooper had openly campaigned for her in the primary against sitting Democrat state Sen. Kirk DeViere, who defied Cooper’s positions in previous sessions.
Applewhite told Carolina Journal that following her vote in support of the Fairnesss in Women’s Sports Act, she received “frightening” messages from supporters of transgender males participating in sports for biological females. She was called names “you probably can’t print.”
survey shows nc backs ban
In a statewide survey, more than 70% of North Carolinians oppose permitting biological males to participate in sports designated for biological females.
In April, the Biden Administration attempted to make a federal rule regarding transgender participation in sports for the opposite biological sex but ended up muddying Democrats’ political waters further. The U.S. Department of Education issued a rule barring schools that take federal money from unilaterally banning transgender sport participation. However, the rule made exceptions, saying “sex-related criteria that limit participation of some transgender students may be permitted, in some cases, when they enable the school to achieve an important educational objective,” such as “fairness in competition” or “preventing sports-related injury.”
Taking both sides appears to have alienated both, with far-left members of Congress like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling it “embarrassing.”
On Wednesday, Cooper vetoed the Fairness in Women’s Sports bill along with vetoes of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which would require that parents have access to school curriculum and healthcare information about their children; and the Gender Transition/Minors Act, which would ban gender transition medications and surgeries from being administered to minors in North Carolina.
Republicans have a narrow super majority in both chambers of the legislature and the three bills are expected to face an override vote early next week.