BOISE — A bill to ban transgender girls and women from playing on female high school and college sports teams is headed to Gov. Brad Little's desk.

The House voted 54-16 Wednesday, with two Republicans joining the Democrats to oppose it, to pass the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, which is being sponsored by Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls.

This is the second controversial bill on transgender issues to land on Little's desk in the waning days of the 2020 legislative session. The Senate voted Tuesday, also along party lines, to send him a bill banning transgender Idahoans from changing their sex on their birth certificates to change their gender identities. Transgender people have been allowed to change their birth certificates since 2018, pursuant to a federal court ruling, and the birth certificate bill will almost certainly land the state in court if Little signs it.

Ehardt and other supporters of the sports bill have said it is a way to protect women and girls from unfair competition. Its backers have frequently pointed to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut last month seeking to block transgender high school girls from competing on track and field teams.

"It needs to be done before that becomes an issue, so I think the timing is perfect," said Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth.

The Democrats spoke against the bill at length. Rep. John McCrostie, D-Garden City, objected to waiving the full reading of the bill, forcing the clerk to read the entire bill, a relatively rare procedural move that House members occasionally use as a protest or to slow down the House's operations.

"What this (bill) does is, it dehumanizes transgender females and it dehumanizes transgender people," McCrostie said.

One major focus for opponents has been the process to challenge a student's gender and to settle disputes. The bill doesn't specify who can challenge, leading to fears an opposing parent or coach or disgruntled teammate could file a challenge. It says disputes will be resolved by a health care provider "verify(ing) the student's biological sex as part of a routine physical examination, relying on an examination of a student's reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup or the levels of testosterone their body produces.

“We are codifying into state statute a government-mandated gynecological exam of our young women," said Rep. Brooke Green, D-Boise. "I hope this rests on your shoulders and I hope this makes you extremely uncomfortable, because it should.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho put out a statement after the vote urging Little to veto the bill, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution and Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in school sports, by discriminating against a certain subset of girls. The bill's supporters, by contrast, have called it a way to protect Title IX by protecting girls.

Idaho high school and colleges already follow the rules of groups such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the International Olympic Committee, the ACLU said.

"If passed, this bill will ultimately leave school districts and taxpayers on the hook for the costs of litigation and will compromise the well-being of all students by funneling resources away from school needs into costly litigation," the ACLU said.