Across the country, states are banning transgender girls from competing in sports.
The banning of transgender girls from athletics started last year with Idaho. Since then, Mississippi has become the latest state to file such a motion. The latest string of bans occurred less than two months after President Biden took office and signed an executive order granting protections for members of the LGBTQ community. Specifically, it protected high school aged athletes against discrimination based on gender identity.
“I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure young girls are not forced to compete against biological males,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted. Reeves, a Republican governor, is one of many in the party who are trying to prevent transgender athletes from competing in sports.
Republican representatives from Florida and Utah have introduced bills to their state legislatures that would also ban transgender women from women’s sports.
Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, and a host of other states either have legislation in progress or are considering banning transgender athletes from sports.
The argument that many Republicans have been using to support these bans is that transgender women are superior in strength to cisgender women. Their reasoning is that transgender women still have male hormones, unlike with cisgender women. However, the research is very limited and has yet to justify these claims.
These bans have not gone unnoticed. Earlier this week, 545 transgender athletes submitted a letter to Sports Illustrated. In the letter, the athletes urged for the NCAA to not hold competitions in states that are banning transgender athletes.
“You have been silent in the face of hateful legislation in states that are slated to host championships, even though those states are close to passing anti-transgender legislation,” the athletes stated.
The banning of transgender athletes is the latest in a series of restrictions set against the transgender community. Across the country, “bathroom bans” have been set against transgender people since 2016 and last year, former President Trump signed an act that would strip transgender protections in healthcare.