Louisiana lawmakers reject bill to limit transgender youth in sports
CBSN
Baton Rouge, Louisiana — Lawmakers on a Louisiana House committee Tuesday narrowly refused to advance a proposal to prohibit transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams in schools.
By a one-vote margin, the House Education Committee rejected the bill by Houma Republican Representative Beryl Amedee. Five lawmakers on the panel voted for the measure, while six voted against it. Two Republicans joined Democrats on the committee in opposing the proposal. That vote isn't certain to end the debate for the legislative session, however. A similar proposal by Senator Beth Mizell, the Senate's second-ranking Republican, awaits debate on the Senate floor after winning the backing of that chamber's education committee.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.