What does a $400 price ticket on a lodge room in LaPlace need to do with Louisiana teenagers fighting their sexuality? They’re the 2 ways in which Louisiana can lose if the Legislature persists in persecuting the tiny variety of transgender teenagers who could wish to take part in highschool sports activities.
The lodge charge got here throughout the Remaining 4 match in New Orleans, an enormous monetary profit for Louisiana and the metropolitan area.
And is laws obligatory when the Louisiana Excessive Faculty Athletics Affiliation has its personal restrictions on transgender sports activities participation?
State Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, mentioned that the NCAA has not but pulled sporting occasions from states with controversial restrictions like a ban on transgender athletes.
However we query that logic: On issues associated to tolerance, sports activities leagues have moved main occasions. North Carolina’s poor legislative judgment led to New Orleans getting the NBA All-Star Sport within the years earlier than the pandemic. No matter Mizell believes, the chance is there.
And no matter Mizell believes, the financial impression of main sports activities occasions is sweet for the whole state due to the ripple results of spending and taxes within the vacationer middle of New Orleans. This yr’s Remaining 4 was a triumph for the comeback of Louisiana as vacation spot, even for individuals paying a trifle a lot for a spot to relaxation their heads.
Lastly, there’s a ethical dimension to this debate. Right this moment’s well-liked tradition is simply too steeped in sexuality, particularly for teenagers, and social media hysteria magnifies the whole lot. For each teen’s struggles, there are a thousand individuals informed that trans ladies have an unfair benefit in sports activities.
Such a case has by no means been reported in Louisiana, however that doesn’t deter legislators from kowtowing to well-liked panics. The Senate handed Mizell’s invoice 29-6 and the state Home is predicted to observe.
Final yr, Gov. John Bel Edwards spoke up for compassion — in addition to financial widespread sense — in his veto of the same measure. We like to think about ourselves as tolerant right here. Legislators’ gutlessness within the face of social media outbursts makes us surprise.