1,000 amendments can’t stall SC transgender sports bill

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina’s Republican House majority outlasted more than 1,000 amendments by Democrats on Tuesday and passed a bill that would bar transgender students from playing girls’ or women’s sports in public schools and colleges.

The delaying tactic by Democrats was largely symbolic but it still held off a vote for hours before the bill passed 82-28 on Tuesday evening. The bill was just one routine step away from heading to the South Carolina Senate for its consideration. That chamber is dominated by Republicans too.

If ultimately passed and signed into law, the bill would have South Carolina join a number of other conservative states in requiring transgender students to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Between the four large boxes of amendments and a tornado warning that evacuated the chamber, debate dragged on for nearly eight hours. But the Republican House majority passed the bill about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday.

About a dozen states have already passed similar legislation, and transgender athletes have become an issue in midterm campaigns in such states as Pennsylvania. But Republicans aren’t in lockstep, with GOP governors in Indiana and Utah vetoing bans in their states.

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