South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill into law on Thursday that bans transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams.
The state became the first this year to pass such a bill, and the 10th to do so overall.
There have been similar laws passed in Idaho, Montana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and West Virginia.
"This bill has been an important priority for a lot of the people behind me," Noem said, "and I appreciate all of their hard work in making sure that girls will always have the opportunity to play in girls sports in South Dakota and have an opportunity for a level playing field, for fairness, that gives them the chance to experience success."
A similar bill was vetoed in March 2021 because Noem said that the legislation would not survive legal challenges. Instead, she then issued two executive orders that allowed only those assigned female at birth to participate on female sports teams.
The new law in South Dakota is scheduled to go into effect on July 1.
South Dakota's law applies to all state-accredited schools, including both public and private schools, according to a spokesperson for the governor. Most of the similar bills that have been passed ban trans athletes from participating on teams in public K-12 schools, some private schools, and colleges and universities.
Similar laws in Idaho and West Virginia have been stopped by federal judges, and the Justice Department has claimed laws in other states are violations of federal law, according to The Washington Post and Associated Press.
Last year during a news conference, Kris Wilka, a 14-year-old trans boy from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, spoke about the impact sports has made on his life.
“Sports is my life,” he said. “My world revolves around football, and I don’t know if I would be able to function without it.”
The 14-year-old said he transferred middle schools after he was not allowed to play football because he is trans, and the new law will also ban him once it goes into effect. Wilka said, “it wasn’t really until sports that I could be myself, because I could just be one of the dudes.”
Those who support the law and similar bans say that trans girls and women have natural advantages over cisgender girls and women. Noem says her bill intends to protect the fairness in women's sports.
Related
Related
