A proposed bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in sports in public colleges in Alabama had its first public hearing on Wednesday.

The Women’s Sports Protection Bill, HB261, seeks to ban transgender athletes from playing on intercollegiate or intramural sports teams that align with their gender identity. The bill would also prohibit any governmental agency or organization from investigating, filing a complaint or taking action against a public school or university that follows the ban.

In 2021, Alabama passed a law to prohibit transgender athletes from playing on school teams in grades K-12.

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The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Susan Dubose (R-Hoover), said the legislation is intended to “protect the fairness, safety, competitiveness and integrity of women’s sports.”

Dubose argued that it would be unfair to allow transgender women to compete against cisgender women.

“Forcing women to compete against biological men would reverse decades of progress that women have made for equal opportunities in athletics, having separate teams for men and women is the time tested way to ensure that women have the opportunity to showcase their talents and be champions,” DuBose said. “Science tells us that similarly gifted and trained males are bigger, faster and stronger than females.”

President Joe Biden’s administration last week proposed a new rule to Title IX, which would prohibit categorical bans on transgender athletes participating on sports teams.

If the new rule is adopted, restrictions would be allowed only if they serve “important educational objectives,” such as fairness in competition and reduction of injury risks. Any limits would have to consider the sport, the level of competition and the age of students.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, if the new rule goes into effect, any state or institution that does place a categorical ban could be federally investigated and see federal funding withheld.

DuBose indicated that the bill has the support of the University of Alabama and that in the states where similar legislation has passed, no adverse consequences or economic losses, such as losing an NCAA tournament, have been levied.

The NCAA currently has a policy in place that says participation for each sport should be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport.

Other proponents who spoke in favor of the bill included Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, a representative from Turning Point USA, a national conservative student group and a representative from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group because of its advocacy against LGBTQ rights.

An opponent of the bill who spoke during the public hearing noted that there are currently no known transgender athletes in Alabama or apparent complaints against them.

“We should stop trying to pretend that protecting sports is what this is about… You’re trying to further the public trial of transgender people, making sure they’re not accepted, by raising up a pretend problem,” said Jeff Walker, who has a transgender daughter, during the hearing. “Show me where there was a problem in the state of Alabama at any level of a transgender youth and sports.”

Nationwide, only about 30 transgender athletes have competed openly in college sports, according to Insider Higher Ed.

The bill was approved by a House committee and will move to a possible vote on the House floor.