Another State In US Bans Transgender Women From Female Sports

Written By Onyeka Daniel

A state in the USA has decided to ban the participation of transgenders especially transgender women in female sports.

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South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, signed the billed on Thursday, tagged “fairness in women’s sport” that bans transgender women from competing in female sports in Schools and Colleges, thereby becoming the first governor this year to sign such a bill.

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With this move, the state also becomes the 10th state in the US to have enacted such bill and it will become effective from June 1st.

The other nine states with legislation banning trans females from participating in women’s sports are Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

Lawmakers cited the case of Lia Thomas, 22, as proof that transgender athletes have an unfair advantage over cisgender peers.

Thomas is part of the women’s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania, where she broke the competition and also two national women’s records at the Zippy International in Akron, Ohio in December. In the 1,650-yard freestyle, Anna Kalandadze, a teammate, finished in second place – 38 seconds behind Thomas.

“We will ensure that we have fairness and a level playing field for female athletes here in the state of South Dakota, at the K-12 level and at the university level,” Noem told reporters during the announcement.

The National College Athletic Association (NCAA) is yet to comment on the development but the college athletics organization recently adopted a sport-by-sport approach for trans athletes that allows each sport’s national governing body to determine its policy on this issue.

Last April, the NCAA said it’s monitoring these bans to make sure tournaments can be held in ways that welcome and respect all participants.

Meanwhile…

While this move is to help ensure a level playing field in college sports, especially for females, it has drawn some criticism especially from the National Center For Transder Equality and The Trevor Project.

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The executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, condemned the new South Dakota legislation. He released a statement saying, “All kids should be supported by their families, their schools and their communities.

South Dakota has turned its back on kids who are just trying to be kids,” Heng-Lehtinen said. Sam Ames, the director of advocacy at The Trevor Project, which advocates for transgender youth, also condemned the bill.

He insists that the South Dakota law sends a message to transgender people that they’re not welcome in the state and calls it “bullying”. “At a time when young people are facing an unprecedented need for support, it is devastating to see politicians instead invent new ways to exclude them,” Ames said.

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(Marca)