North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum approved two bills on Tuesday that prohibit male athletes from participating in female sports matches in both K–12 and higher education.
The law was approved by the state House and Senate, both of which granted it a veto-proof majority.
While covering Burgum’s newly-signed bill, Fox News reported that it places restrictions on “transgender girls” and “women” rather than simply describing the athletes as what they actually are: men.
Burgum issued a statement claiming that in the past two years, during which over 27,000 students have taken part in North Dakota high school sports, “there still has not been a single recorded incident of a transgender girl playing or entering the process to even ask to play on a North Dakota girls’ team.”
He added that in spite of this, the Legislature has “resoundingly determined” that it is necessary to codify a ban on such an activity into state law.
“Concerns raised last session about such policies jeopardizing the ability to host regional and national collegiate tournaments have not materialized in the roughly 20 states that have passed similar legislation.”
A previous and very similar version of the bill was vetoed by The North Carolina governor in 2021. Unlike this year, there was not a supermajority that could have prevented a veto at the time. The newly-approved legislation is even more broad, also putting restrictions at the collegiate level, according to One America News.
Fox News offered further left-wing political commentary on the topic, writing in its Associated Press sourced article that Republican lawmakers throughout the U.S. have rammed through hundred of laws this year in an effort to reign in so-called “LGBTQ+ freedoms.” The piece claims that new policies affecting sports, health care, bathrooms, workplaces, and schools are “especially targeting transgender people’s everyday lives.”
A well-known group that notably opposes a rule mandating that men cannot play in women’s sports is the American American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued in 2021 that such legislation ‘alienates’ the so-called “trans youth.”
Our trans youth should be protected, not alienated.
Olivia Data, a high school student and athlete, testified in front of North Dakota lawmakers to say that trans people belong in sports, and deserve a safe and healthy environment.
We'll keep saying it: Trans people belong. pic.twitter.com/65uOFgohqc
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 23, 2021
