Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A former college swimmer from Springfield is speaking up against trans girls playing girls’ sports and using girls’ locker rooms. Kaitlynn Wheeler, who competed at Kentucky, says Illinois lawmakers need to get with it.

“We need our elected officials to be representative of the people,” said Wheeler (pictured, center). “That is their job. Have the strength and the courage and the spine to stand up for young women and girls. Again, we’re asking for the bare minimum.”

Statehouse Republicans are upset the Illinois High School Association, the governing body over scholastic sports in the state, is not going along with the President’s executive order on this. Backers say this is not about bigotry – it’s about fairness and safety.

State Rep. Tom Weber (pictured, right) (R-Lake Villa) said if you think this is a phony issue, or one which only affects a small number of athletes, you are simply wrong.

“There’s a report from the United Nations titled, “Violence against Women and Girls in Sports” that documents that over more than 890 medals have been stolen by men in 26 different women’s sports and this report was as of over a year ago, so those numbers are much higher.”

That contradicts a newspaper report from Carbondale documenting just three trans girls on Illinois girls’ teams.

Weber and State Rep. Regan Deering (pictured, left) (R-Decatur) are sponsoring bills (here and here) to address the issue of transgender athletes. though the bills do not deal with the IHSA.