Michigan House OKs bills barring biological male athletes from competing in women's sports

Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News on May 22, 2025

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LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan House voted largely along party lines Thursday on legislation prohibiting biological male athletes from participating in women's sports and amending the state's civil rights law to stop lawsuits challenging its enforcement.

The Republican-controlled House passed the first bill 58-46 along party lines, while the second, amending the civil rights law, passed 59-45, with the support of one Democratic lawmaker, state Rep. Amos O'Neal, D-Saginaw.

The legislation, which is likely to meet headwinds in the Democratic-led Senate, was debated for some time on the House floor before passage. Republicans argued the legislation was necessary to protect young women and Democrats argued the bills would add to the stigma transgender students already face. There have been few transgender athletes who have participated in Michigan high school sports over the years and there are currently none.

"If you want to label standing up for young girls as discriminatory, you can do that," said state Rep. Rylee Linting, a Grosse Ile Township Republican who helped sponsor the package. "But it sends a loud and clear message that you care more about the law protecting someone’s feelings than the law protecting the safety, opportunity and well-being of our young girls.”

State Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, condemned the legislation as threatening an already at-risk population and said it amounted to "state-sanctioned bullying."

"This legislation will further isolate and ostracize children and adolescents that are at an already increased risk of suicide," Koleszar said from the House floor. "Make no mistake, madam speaker, this legislation and the rhetoric that surrounds it can get somebody killed.”

The legislation requires school districts to designate athletic teams and sports in three different categories: Those limited to women or girls, those limited to men or boys and those designated for coeducation or mixed membership. The sex of an athlete would be based on what was listed on the individuals' original birth certificate.

The legislation bars a school district from knowingly allowing men to participate in women's sports, but allows women to participate in men's sports.

The legislation bars state agencies, athletic associations or accrediting organizations from investigating or taking adverse action against a school district for having single-sex athletic teams. Individuals who have suffered a harm due to a violation of the rule can take up civil action against the alleged violator within two years of the violation.

A second bill would amend Michigan's civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, to include express language allowing educational institutions to limit participation in certain sports teams based on the sex listed on an individual's birth certificate.

The legislation would immediately impact the Michigan High School Athletic Association, a nonprofit that governs organized sports for 1,500 public and private high schools and middle schools. The MHSAA has a policy allowing transgender athletes to compete on girls teams on a case-by-case basis.

Currently, the MHSAA does not have any active waivers for the winter or spring seasons. But two athletes competed through a waiver during the fall season.

The MHSAA has said previously that it was awaiting clarification before complying with a similar federal mandate limiting which teams transgender athletes could play on. The group said it believed there were potential conflicts between President Donald Trump's Feb. 6 executive order and the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on gender identity.

The Michigan House GOP, with some Democratic support, voted in March to "strongly encourage" the MHSAA to align with Trump's executive order.

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