Louisiana became the 18th state Monday to ban transgender girls and women from participating in school sports after its Democratic governor refused to veto it or approve it.
Both chambers of the Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill last month, and Gov. John Bel Edwards stated Monday at a news conference that he would not sign and veto the bill. If the governor fails to act on a bill, it becomes law under Louisiana law.
Edwards stated that the bill would become law regardless of whether I signed it or rejected it. He cited the fact that the bill had more than two thirds support in each chamber of the Legislature, which would permit a legislative override.
Fairness in Women’s Sports Act (the bill) requires schools to “designate intercollegiate or interscholastic athletes teams according to their biological sex.” The definition of “biological sex”, as the sex that was listed on a person’s birth certificate at the time, is what it says. It states explicitly that only females who were born to a male birth certificate are allowed to participate in teams for them. This excludes transgender girls.
August 1 will mark the official adoption of the bill. It will be applicable to public elementary, middle, and high schools as well as public universities. It will also be applicable to private schools and universities that receive public funds.
Students and others can sue schools that allow trans girls or women to participate in female sports teams. The bill also prevents anyone reporting a school for violating the law from being prosecuted.
Edwards vetoed last year a similar bill, calling it “a solution to a problem that simply doesn’t exist in Louisiana.”
He reiterated his position Monday, saying that there has not been “one instance in Louisiana where a transgender girl participated in sports.” However, he allowed the bill to go into effect because he believes that the Legislature will override his veto. This is especially true now that the bill’s reach is narrower and does not affect intramural sport.
Edwards stated, “It’s unfortunate, but it is where it is.” “And I hope that we all can get to a place soon where we can all see that these young people do the best they can to survive.”
He said that the bill’s effect, “whether it was intended or not”, is to send a strong message that young people shouldn’t be the person they think they’re, the person they believe they’re, and the person they actually know they are. This is something that I find very troubling. “I believe we can do better.”
State Senator Beth Mizell, a Republican, stated that she sponsored the bill to help cisgender girls (and women) who identify with their assigned gender at birth. She also said she did not want to have to compete against transgender girls. Local outlet, the Louisiana Illuminator, reported that Mizell believes trans girls have an inherent physical advantage.
The legislation’s supporters argue that transgender students can still participate in athletics because they are allowed to join the team that matches their sex at birth.
Advocates who sought to prevent a similar law in Idaho from becoming effective disagree with this view.
Oral arguments were held before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, argued that a lower tribunal had previously ruled that it was not possible to force a transgender girl to participate on a team of boys. He cited expert testimony from Dr. Jack Turban (a Stanford University child and adolescent psychiatry fellow) and Lindsay Hecox (a trans college student who is one of the plaintiffs suing Idaho over its law.
Strangio claimed that Hecox would have been harmed if she had participated on the boys’ team and that it would be “so substantially humiliating to her” that this is not an option.
According to The Associated Press, a ruling in this case is likely soon.
