HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” is taking a closer look at transgender athletics, and Idaho’s place in the national debate.
An HBO crew recently came to Idaho to interview Rep. Barbara Ehardt, R-Idaho Falls, the Idaho Statesman reported Monday. Ehardt co-sponsored Idaho’s first-in-the-nation law banning transgender girls and women from playing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Hayley Harding of the Statesman wrote about the interview.
“There’s never a bad time to protect opportunities for girls and women,” Ehardt told HBO correspondent Bernie Goldberg.
But Ehardt told Goldberg she has no problem with transgender people. “I actually support people in making choices they feel are important to them in their lives, but this has to be based on one’s biology, on one’s sex.”
The 2020 Legislature passed the transgender athletics ban in March, but the law is now tied up in court. U.S. District Judge David Nye issued an injunction in August, but supporters last week took the issue to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, the HBO segment is also in limbo. It had been scheduled to air Tuesday, Harding reported, but it was pulled and the network has not announced a new run date.
