Alabama is the most recent of many States who have passed legislation to protect girl’s highschool sports.
On Friday, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that will ban the participation of trans athletes in K-12 sports.
The law states that schools “may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team.”
Several left-leaning groups are up in arms over the new law, as they fail to see how such laws provide fairness for young women in sports.
Instead, they falsely claim these laws are bigoted or harmful.
They claim that trans kids deserve the same opportunities, even if those opportunities come at the expense of biological girls.
The Associated Press has the story:
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed legislation restricting transgender students from participating in K-12 sports, making Alabama the latest conservative state to ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams.
Ivey’s office announced in an email that she had signed the bill that says a public K-12 school “may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team.” Asked if the governor had a comment on the decision, spokeswoman Gina Maiola said she could confirm the governor signed the bill but did not elaborate.
Supporters of the bill, HB 391, say transgender girls are born bigger and faster and have an unfair advantage in competition. Opponents argue the bills are rooted in discrimination and fear, and violate the federal law barring sex discrimination in education.
“HB 391 is nothing more than a politically motivated bill designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population. By signing this legislation, Gov. Ivey is forcefully excluding transgender children. Let’s be clear here: transgender children are children. They deserve the same opportunity to learn valuable skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition with their peers,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.
The Alabama House voted 74-19 for the bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Scott Stadthagen of Hartselle. The Alabama Senate voted 25-5 for the legislation.
CNN with more on reaction to the bill:
While proponents of the bill say sex-specific sports teams have given biological female athletes more equal opportunities to compete, those against it say the bill is discriminatory and harmful to transgender athletes.
Alphonso David -- president of the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy groups -- slammed the legislation as "nothing more than a politically motivated bill designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population.""By signing this legislation, Gov. Ivey is forcefully excluding transgender children. Let's be clear here: Transgender children are children. They deserve the same opportunity to learn valuable skills of teamwork, sportsmanship, and healthy competition with their peers," David said in a statement. "Simply put, Alabamans deserve better than lawmakers who legislate against the health and safety of all kids for cheap political gain."
Alabama Republican Rep. Scott Stadthagen, who sponsored the bill, praised Ivey for her support.
"I want thank Governor Ivey for her leadership and for protecting the rights of Alabama's female athletes," he tweeted Friday. "Standing up for what is right is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do."
Activist groups are up in arms over the bill's signing, calling the bill "unfair" and even "cruel."
Something tells me these girls would disagree on what is cruel and unfair.
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