Minnesota House Republicans introduced a pair of bills that would prevent transgender students from using the locker rooms, restrooms and sports that align with their gender identity.

The first bill, HF12, has over 30 Republican co-sponsors and would ban transgender students from playing on any K-12 girls sports team. The bill passed along party lines in the Education Policy Committee in a tense meeting Wednesday, during which dozens of activists, lawyers, doctors, coaches, parents and students testified for and against HF12.

“We know that males have a physical advantage. It’s a matter of fairness and safety,” said the bill’s chief author, Peggy Scott, R-Andover.

Any dispute about a student-athlete’s gender would be settled using the annual student sports physical to confirm gender based on the student’s physical anatomy, testosterone levels and chromosomes, Scott said.

The other bill, HF565, bans anyone with a Y chromosome — which would include nearly everyone assigned male at birth who has XY chromosomes — from using a girls restroom, locker room, changing room or shower. The bill also has its own provision banning transgender students from girls sports.

Chief author of the bill Rep. Duane Quam, R-Byron, said his bill is a “common sense” step to protect girls-only spaces.

HF 565 is awaiting a hearing in the Education Policy Committee. Both House bills have companion bills in the Senate.

While HF 565 defines a woman as a person without a Y chromosome, HF 12 defines a woman “as biologically determined by genetics and defined with respect to an individual’s reproductive system.”

Both bills were attacked in a press conference by Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, who said the bills threaten the mental well-being of transgender students.

“They are literally working to kill trans kids with these bills, and they know it and they don’t care,” she said. “It is wrong. It is shameful.”

Recent estimates on the number of transgender students in Minnesota are limited. In a 2019 Minnesota student survey, 2.8% of ninth-grade students reported being transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid or unsure about their gender identity.

Estimates for the number of transgender student-athletes are even more limited. An American Civil Liberties Union spokesperson told Newsweek that Save Women’s Sports, an advocacy group in favor of banning transgender athletes in girls sports, identified five K-12 transgender students competing in girls sports teams nationally in 2023.

National Collegiate Athletic Association President Charlie Baker told a U.S. Senate panel in December that of the over half a million athletes in the NCAA, he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes. He did not specify whether that number included transgender men playing in men’s sports.

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Regardless, Republican lawmakers argue these bills are needed to protect female students from the transgender student-athletes who do compete.

“Safety is a major issue,” Scott said. “These are serious reasons to keep girls with girls and boys with boys.”

OutFront Minnesota Executive Director Kat Rohn said during public comments on the bill that efforts like this exacerbate the mental health issues facing Minnesota’s transgender community.

“It tells kids, trans kids that they are not welcome in sports they love at a time when they need our care and support more than ever,” they said. “Everyone deserves a chance to play. And everyone should feel like they belong.”

Given that the DFL controls the Minnesota Senate and governorship, both bills are unlikely to become law.

Today is Saturday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2025. There are 312 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 22, 1980, the “Miracle on Ice” took place at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the United States Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union, 4-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal two days later with a 4-2 victory over Finland.)

Also on this date:

In 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Westmoreland County in the Virginia Colony.

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In 1784, a U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, left New York for the first trade voyage of an American ship to China.

In 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 race was held; although Johnny Beauchamp was initially declared the winner, the victory was later awarded to Lee Petty.

In 1967, more than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

In 1997, scientists in Scotland announced they had successfully cloned an adult mammal for the first time, a sheep they named “Dolly.”

In 2010, Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee), accused of buying products from beauty supply stores to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. (Zazi faced up to life in prison but spent nearly a decade after his arrest helping the U.S. identify and prosecute terrorists; he was given a 10-year sentence followed by supervised release.)

In 2021, the number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 topped 500,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Today’s birthdays:

Actor Paul Dooley is 97.
Actor James Hong is 96.
Actor Julie Walters is 75.
Basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving is 75.
Golf Hall of Famer Amy Alcott is 69.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 66.
Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 62.
Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine is 60.
Actor-comedian Rachel Dratch is 59.
Actor Paul Lieberstein (TV: “The Office) is 58.
Actor Jeri Ryan is 57.
Actor Thomas Jane is 56.
Actor-singer Lea Salonga is 54.
Tennis Hall of Famer Michael Chang is 53.
Singer James Blunt is 51.
Actor Drew Barrymore is 50.

Minnesota dropped another clutch-time contest Friday in Houston, sinking the Wolves to 15-20 in such games this season.

The 20 losses in the clutch – defined as games with a margin of five points or less at any point in the final five minutes of a game – are the most in the NBA.

If the Timberwolves won just five more of those 35 clutch contests, they’d currently own the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and be in position for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Our issue is we’ve got to win close games,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters on Friday. “We’ve got to be better. Our shot selection and decision making in clutch games has got to improve on the offensive end.”

That starts with Anthony Edwards.

The Wolves guard scored 37 points in the loss to the Rockets, but all 37 came in the contest’s first 41 minutes. Over the final seven, he went 0 for 5 from the field with a turnover. And while Edwards told reporters after the game that he liked the looks he got late, the film reveals many of them were heavily contested, difficult attempts. They didn’t fall and, subsequently, the Wolves lost.

Such is life for Minnesota this season, who has frequently lived and died with Edwards’ insistence on taking tough shots late in games.

Far too often, it’s been a fatal trait.

Edwards has played in 51 fourth quarters this season. In the 26 that have ended in Wolves’ wins, he’s shot 48.8% from the field, and 47.4% from distance.

In the 25 that ended in Wolves’ losses, he’s shot 31.3% from the floor and 31.4% from beyond the arc.

That seems logical. If your best player makes shots late, you win. If he doesn’t, you lose. But 92 NBA players have shot 60 or more times in the fourth quarters of losses this season, and Edwards’ 31.3% mark is the worst among them.

Overall, 52 players have taken 150-plus shots from the field in fourth quarters this season, and Edwards’ 40.1% shooting mark in the final frame ranks 50th among them, ahead of only Houston’s Jalen Green and Washington’s Jordan Poole.

In clutch-time situations this season, Edwards is shooting 40.2% from the field and 30.4% from 3-point range, all while recording more turnovers (10) than assists (nine).

Finch noted “a lot” of the fourth quarter execution falls on Edwards’ shoulders.

“Obviously, because they’re putting two (defenders) on him,” Finch told reporters. “And, for the most part, he’s making the right play. But he’s got to stay with it. And we’ve got to help, too. I’ve got to call a better game down the stretch.”

But Edwards also needs to perform at a higher level on a more consistent basis if Minnesota is to win more close games, which will be a requirement of any effort to surge up the Western Conference standings.

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Anthony Edwards missed Sunday’s All-Star game in San Francisco due to a groin injury, or maybe it was a cold? Multiple things were reported in the immediate aftermath. The guard’s injury designation ahead of Minnesota’s bout in Houston was “questionable” with a hip ailment.

Fear not, Timberwolves fans. Edwards appears to be quite alright. And yet it still wasn’t enough for Minnesota on Friday in the Wolves’ 121-115 loss to the Rockets in their first game post All-Star break.

Edwards scored 37 points as he continues to be a thorn in Houston’s side. He dropped 41 against the Rockets in Minnesota just two weeks ago, and Houston was similarly at a loss for answers on Friday. The guard knocked down tough triples, yes, but the majority of his success took place on his jaunts to the rim, where Houston had no one to deter him.

Perhaps Minnesota thought it was playing in an all-star affair to open the game.

That was about the level of defensive effort and execution the Wolves exhibited in a first frame in which Houston scored a jaw-dropping 48 points. Minnesota was without Rudy Gobert, who missed the game with back spasms. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo remain out for the Wolves, who did get Mike Conley back from a finger injury.

“They got hot from three early. We’ve got to pressure more, apply the pressure so they don’t feel comfortable to shoot those three, obviously,” Wolves big Naz Reid told reporters. “We let them be comfortable.”

Yet even with the poor early defense, the Wolves were only down 10 at quarter’s end, thanks to a strong offensive showing themselves.

Minnesota tightened up the defensive effort from there, surrendering just 20 points in the second quarter to trim Houston’s lead to one by halftime. It was a back-and-forth bout the rest of the way, with the two teams trading jabs.

But Houston (35-21) outexecuted Minnesota (31-26) in the closing stretch of the contest, as Houston generated good offense and Edwards developed tunnel vision in the face of multiple Houston defenders that led to a number of difficult shots and, as a result, misses.

Edwards scored just three points in the final frame, going 1 for 6 from the field. Edwards did not score over the game’s final seven and a half minutes.

Alperen Sengun had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Houston, while Jalen Green led the Rockets with 35 points. Minnesota hosts Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Reid had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves on a night where he struggled with foul trouble. Jaden McDaniels added 21 points, six rebounds and two steals.

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