Indiana Republicans Blast GOP Governor’s Veto of Women’s-Sports Bill: ‘Just Doesn’t Make Sense’

Yesterday, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have barred biological males from competing in women’s sports at the K-12 level. The move was a surprising reversal from the position that Holcomb carved out just a few weeks ago, when he signaled support for the legislation: While the governor “told reporters that he was waiting to see the final versions of [the legislation],” according to the AP, he maintained that “I agree, adamantly, that boys should be playing boys sports and girls should be playing girls sports, and mixed sports should be just that.”

But on Monday, Holcomb vetoed the Indiana legislature’s effort to enforce those biological distinctions in state law. In a letter to the speaker of the Indiana House, the Republican governor argued that there was “no evidence to support” the claim that “there is an existing problem in K-12 sports in Indiana that requires further state government intervention” with regard to transgender athletes.

Holcomb’s letter also cited concerns about the bill “increas[ing] the likelihood of litigation against our schools with the courts having to adjudicate the uncertainties.” That justification echoed the line given by Kristi Noem in March 2021, when the South Dakota governor vetoed a similar bill that was sent to her desk by the state legislature. After initially saying she was “excited” to sign the legislation, Noem reneged, maintaining that it would be a “trial lawyer’s dream” and subject her state to extensive litigation in “a fight we can’t win.” But Noem has since reversed that position, introducing new legislation to protect women’s sports. As of this writing, a total of eleven state legislatures have passed similar bills — and none appear to have been adversely affected by the litigation that Holcomb cited as a concern.

“It’s obviously a smokescreen,” Representative Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana’s third congressional district, told National Review. “Eleven states have passed a law that looks just like this bill, and none of them have been challenged successfully. On top of that, we have an attorney general in Indiana, Todd Rokita, who said, ‘I am prepared to defend this law if it passes.’ So our own attorney general has made it very clear that the law would be defended in the courts by his office, and the governor vetoed it anyway. So these are just excuses on his part, and Hoosiers aren’t buying it.”

Banks isn’t the only prominent Indiana Republican to criticize Holcomb’s move. “Girls’ sports should be for girls, and allowing biological males to compete with them robs female athletes of a chance to compete and win,” Senator Mike Braun (R., Ind.) tweeted soon after the veto. “I’m disappointed Governor Holcomb vetoed a bill to make this law in Indiana, and I support a veto override to protect women’s athletics.” Rokita himself reiterated his commitment to defending the law if the state legislature overrides Holcomb’s veto, tweeting: “We stand by the law and will vigorously defend it in court if and hopefully when the General Assembly overrides the veto.”

It remains to be seen if the Indiana state legislature will, in fact, override Holcomb’s veto. But the move — and the governor’s dubious justification — is sure to have political consequences down the road. “It just doesn’t make sense,” Banks told NR. “I’ve heard directly from state legislators who supported the bill that the governor signaled that he would sign it, so this is as much of a shock to them as it is to the rest of us who see this as a commonsense step forward to protecting our kids and saving girls’ sports.”