30 states move to bar transgender youth from competing in female sports

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Conservative lawmakers in over thirty US states have introduced legislation to prohibit transgender youth from competing in female sports, the American Family Association reports.

“The governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia have already signed bills outlawing transgender students from competing in female sports teams in public schools,” AFA said. Montana joined this list of states on May 7, when Governor Greg Gianforte signed the Save Women’s Sports Act, banning transgender students from female sports in state schools.

Republicans in North Carolina began the process of introducing similar legislation in March, NY1 reported. Sponsoring the proposed law, Rep. Mark Brody said in a statement: “I do not want to wait until biological females are pushed out of female sports, and all of their records are broken, scholarships lost and benefits of excelling are diminishing before this is addressed.”

According to the AFA report, the governor of South Dakota has issued an executive order to also ban transgender youth from female sports, and the governor of Florida is set to follow suit.

Although all such legislation was introduced by Conservatives, a recent poll suggests Republican voters are not overwhelmingly in favor of it. A survey by NPR/Marist/PBS Newshour found that while Republican voters do have reservations about transgender sports participation, only 29% support “a bill that prohibits transgender student-athletes from joining sports teams that match their gender identity.”

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