MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Cullman area legislators State Sen. Garlan Gudger and State Rep. Scott Stadthagen last week received the Alabama Republican Party’s Chairman’s Commendation for their support of conservative party values through the sponsorship of a bill requiring athletes in gender-specific sports events to compete according to the gender on their birth certificates. Stadthagen sponsored and introduced the bill in the State House of Representatives, while 32 other representatives, including Randall Shedd, co-sponsored. State Rep. Corey Harbison voted in favor of the bill.
When the bill cleared the House, Gudger led the push for Senate approval.
The synopsis attached to the bill proposed “that no public K-12 school may participate in, sponsor or provide coaching staff for interscholastic athletic events at which athletes are allowed to participate in competition against athletes who are of a different biological gender, unless the event specifically includes both biological genders.”
An Alabama Republican Party press release reads:
The Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) has presented two members of the Alabama Legislature with the Chairman’s Commendation award for their service to the State of Alabama while upholding the values of the ALGOP party platform.
State Representative Scott Stadthagen (Cullman, Marshall and Morgan Counties) and State Senator Garlan Gudger (Cullman, Lawrence, Marion and Winston Counties) are the House and Senate sponsors of HB-391, which prohibits athletic events allowing competition by one biological gender against another, unless the event specifically includes both genders.
“I am proud to present both Scott Stadthagen and Garlan Gudger with the ALGOP Chairman’s Commendation award. Their bill brings a common-sense approach to a complicated issue. We all want sports to be fair, and that should include gender specific games. The bottom line is that biological males should compete against other biological males, and biological females should compete against biological females. If we ignore the biological differences between men and women, girls’ sports are most severely affected. Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field, and this bill protects their ability to do so.
“It’s important to remember that this bill does not deny anyone access to play sports, but only requires that gender specific sports be based on the gender listed on a player’s original birth certificate.
“Rep. Stadthagen and Sen. Gudger are to be commended for their work this legislative session. The bills they carried in their respective chambers are the type of legislation that represent the core, Conservative values of Alabamians across the state. The Alabama Republican Party appreciates their hard work and dedication,” said Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl.
The Chairman’s Commendation is awarded to Republican elected officials whose work and actions support principles of the Alabama Republican Party.
Over the weekend, Gudger told The Tribune, “It’s an honor to work with the state Republican Party and its new Chairman John Wahl. This being the first awards coming from Chairman Wahl to the Alabama State Senate and House, I believe Cullman County is well represented!”
On Monday, Stadthagen said, “It was awesome that the chairman did that, and I think that this was a really strong, conservative piece of legislation that, hopefully, the Governor’s going to sign this week. And I’m just thankful Garlan carried it upstairs, and happy to see it through the finish line. I’m really happy that the Republican Party is starting to get involved with what’s going on in Montgomery as well.”
HB391 may be viewed at https://legiscan.com/AL/text/HB391/2021.
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