Letter to the editor: More unnecessary 'problem' solving

The General Assembly, by taking up H. 3477, targets transgender youth in the name of "protecting girls' sports." The problem is that this is a non-existent problem. One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Ashley Trantham, has admitted that there hasn't been any complaints of transgender students playing on girls' teams. The S.C. Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman, has come out against this bill, saying that "this is not something we need to legislate in Columbia."

So why do it? Why write a bill that only targets girls' sports? If there really was an issue, wouldn't boys' sports need the same protections? The obvious answer is this isn't about protecting anyone and more about targeting certain individuals. The only thing this bill accomplishes is making some children feel more like outcasts and that they do not belong in our society. This bill seeks to strip the dignity and deny the humanity of our most vulnerable just because some lawmakers feel like it.

Instead of fixing our roads, improving our education system or trying to solve other, more pressing, problems, our lawmakers would rather get involved in the private lives of children. They should be ashamed of themselves for using the power of the government to go after children.

KEVIN ECKERT

Sumter