On Tuesday, Utah governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have barred biological males from competing in women’s sports. “I believe in fairness and protecting the integrity of women’s sports,” he wrote in a lengthy letter explaining his decision. But he argued that the bill went too far in pursuing “a complete ban,” citing the amendment’s last-minute introduction and potential lawsuits as reasons for his veto. Cox maintained that, while “I am not an expert on transgenderism . . . I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion. I also try to get proximate and I am learning so much from our transgender community.” On top of that, he wrote that the ban was unnecessary because of the small number of transgender athletes in Utah: “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few,” he said.
Cox was the second Republican governor to have killed such a legislative initiative in the same number of days. Just a day earlier, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb vetoed a similar bill, incurring sharp criticism from many Republicans in his state.
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