In a letter to state lawmakers, Gov. Tony Evers (pictured below) said the bill “fails to comport with our Wisconsin values,” Fox News reported.
Biological males in girls and women’s sports -- referred to only as "transgender women" by much of the news media --- has been a maddening topic as basketball season has wound down. It gained national attention over the weekend when Dawn Staley, coach of the NCAA champion women’s basketball team South Carolina, said she is in favor of allow biological males to play women’s sports.
Before Staley advanced the transgender cause, three female volleyball players in Massachusetts were injured by a male player in a Feb. 8 game. The three females play for Collegiate Charter School, located in Lowell, which was playing Kipp Academy and its dominating male player known as Lazuli Clark.
Collegiate Charter chose to forfeit the game to ensure it had enough healthy players to compete in the upcoming playoffs, according to a school spokesperson, The Daily Mail reported.
Fox News Digital cited a source that reported that male in question is more than 6-feet tall with facial hair.
An X post by The Independent Council on Women’s Sports identified the player as Lazuli Clark. The post details his accomplishments in basketball, volleyball and track and field, girls’ sports all of them.
The post includes a photo in which Clark is identified – with a stubble-growth beard – between two volleyball teammates to promote an upcoming match.
The Daily Mail account included video showing a girls player challenging Clark for a rebound. The female player hit the floor hard when he ripped the ball away and remained on the floor holding her back until medical staff reached her.
Wisconsin veto likely to stand
In Wisconsin, Evers’ veto is likely to stand. Republicans do not have a two-thirds majority in either the state assembly or senate.
“It’s ridiculous. He basically said he wasn't going to sign the bill because it was anti-gay, it was discriminatory, it would harm the safety of the LGBTQ community, the high school community in Wisconsin, and that it would harm their mental health,” Washington Stand reporter Victoria Marshall said on Washington Watch Friday.
“Him not signing the bill means that he's jeopardizing the safety of female athletes who now have to compete with biological men who also harass and intimidate them physically, as well as can sexually harass them or sexually abuse them by being in female lockers,” Marshall told show host Jody Hice.
Indeed, Clark, the Kipp Academy male player, had been suspended from a private girls’ rowing club after an allegation of harassment in the team’s dressing area, according to The Daily Mail.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) presented the report to the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“The male athlete was caught staring openly at one of the female athletes while she changed her clothes in the women’s locker room,” according to Cassidy’s committee report.
Marshall said the Evers veto reflects “the PC culture where we’re just supposed to affirm everyone, affirm their delusions about identity.
“Then the Massachusetts boy, it was also reported that he was spying on his female (rowing) colleagues in the locker room and making lewd comments about them. He was actually sexually harassing his teammates.”
Clark never again participated for the private rowing club, according to The Daily Mail.
Big-name gives voice to Trans movement
Staley is one of the most recognizable names and faces in women’s sports right now.
After a stellar playing career for the University of Virginia and as a six-time all-star in the WNBA, she has won 612 games as head coach including a 440-106 record at South Carolina where she’s led the Gamecocks to a record of 109-3 with two national championships over the last three seasons.
That success helped earn her a spot on AFLAC commercials alongside legendary former Duke men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the off day before the Gamecocks’ championship win over Iowa, Staley was asked for her opinion on males competing on women’s sports teams.
After a long pause she responded, “If you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.”
Pressed further, with the word transgender included in the question for the first time, Staley held her ground.
“Yes, yes," she said.
Staley indicated she was ready to face any backlash from her comments.
Monday morning, that backlash came from Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimming champ. She has become a full-time advocate for women-only sports after competing against a male swimmer who was on the University of Pennsylvania women's team.
Citing news footage of Staley, Gaines said she doubts Staley really believes in her stated position but likely gave in to pressure to deliver a “politically correct” response.
“If you watch the video...her silence, that hesitation, that drink of water spoke volumes," Gaines said on Fox News. "What I think this boils down to is she didn’t have the courage to stand with women. It was a once-in a-lifetime opportunity for her, and she blew it."
