Minnesota House members are moving forward with a bill to ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports statewide. The Education Policy Committee held a hearing on the proposal on Wednesday.

About two dozen people testified during the meeting, including student-athletes, parents, advocates and physicians.

Rep. Peggy Scott authored the Preserving Girls’ Sports Act, which would amend Minnesota’s statute that protects against sex-based discrimination in athletic programs to include, “only female students may participate in an elementary or secondary school level athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted to women and girls.”

The original version of the bill said if there was a dispute, a student would have to provide a signed doctor’s statement indicating the student’s sex based on their internal and external reproductive anatomy, the student’s naturally occurring level of testosterone and an analysis of the student’s chromosomes.

This provision was removed by Scott, who introduced an amended version that replaced it with a definition of female. The bill defines a female as being biologically determined by genetics and based on reproductive system.

“We’re preserving girls’ sports because there’s an unfair advantage if they’re in competition with a male,” said Scott during the hearing. “We’re trying to protect our girls.”

Advocates of the legislation raised concerns that transgender girls would have a physical advantage over girls assigned female at birth and take spots from others on competitive teams.

Opponents of the bill, however, argued trans girls have competed on Minnesota sports teams for at least a decade without any issue and deserve the opportunity to compete on the team where they feel comfortable.

“It is demonstrably untrue that that trans participation reduces girls’ participation in sport, it’s just not the case,” said Jess Braverman, the legal director for Gender Justice, who testified.

The Minnesota State High School League adopted a policy allowing students to compete on the team whose gender they identify with in 2015. MSHSL reaffirmed that stance earlier this month after President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports.

The league argued the order violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

The Education Policy Committee voted to advance the bill to the House floor, despite concerns from DFL lawmakers who questioned how it would be enforced and how student data would be protected.

“We’re laying out, [paving the way] for harassment for harassment and scrutiny of women’s bodies, girl’s bodies – these are little girls, five-year-olds,” said Rep. Julie Greene.