Louisiana legislators will consider a bill that bans schools from allowing transgender athletes who were not assigned as a woman at birth to play on women’s sports teams.
The legislation was brought by Franklinton Senator Beth Mizell who says women’s sports are a women’s rights issue and should be for women only.
“It’s just a very simple idea that women’s sports are a competitive opportunity for women,” says Mizell.
She says she’s concerned about the competitive advantage that trans women have over someone who was assigned female at birth.
“A young man who identified as a woman set records in women’s sports, a woman can’t compete against that,” says Mizell.
Louisiana Trans Advocates President Dylan Waguespack opposes the bill and says a similar ban functionally already exists at the high school level, but this would target all Louisiana trans students.
“These bills are looking for a solution to a problem that does not exist and they very seriously overstep the bounds of what the Louisiana Legislature should be concerned with,” says Waguespack.
Waguespack says the legislation, and it’s a companion bill in the House, is imported from radical national anti-trans groups, and is discriminatory.
“It tells a group of children based on something this is inherent to who they are that they can not participate in regular childhood and life activities but their peers can,” says Waguespack.
The bill provides for the “Save Women’s Sports Act”.
