Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves on Thursday signed a ban on transgender student-athletes playing women’s and women’s sports, part of a wave of Republican-led efforts to exclude trans people from athletics.
Similar bills have been introduced in more than 20 states since last year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, with the goal of “saving women’s sport”. But the NCAA has policies that have allowed trans athletes to participate in sports for years, and opponents of the legislation say it is simply about discrimination.
The Mississippi law comes after President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Jan. 20 underlining protections for LGBTQ people. It makes explicit reference to school sports as an area where discrimination should not be tolerated, as it instructs federal agencies to enforce the United States Supreme Court’s 2020 decision that the federal prohibition of sex discrimination in the workplace also protects employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
After signing the bill on Thursday, Reeves, a Republican, specifically mentioned Biden’s order in a Twitter statement, saying, “POTUS left us no choice.”
“One of his first acts was to sign an EO encouraging transgenderism in children. So today, I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure that girls are not forced to compete against biological males,” said the governor tweeted.
Except for any legal challenges, the law is due to come into effect on July 1 and will apply to inter-school teams from elementary school through high school.
Other states may come in the next few days. On Monday, after the South Dakota legislature approved his version of the bill, Governor Kristi Noem tweeted that she was “excited” to convert it into law, describing its approval as a celebration of International Women’s Day “for the defense of women’s sport”.
Proponents of the measures argued that trans athletes have unfair physical advantages over their cis counterparts, but offered little evidence to support this. (A 2016 literature review on transgender participation in sports found “no direct or consistent research” to suggest that this is the case.)
“There is really no evidence that there is this categorical advantage that trans athletes have some specific type of advantage because they are trans,” Jett Jonelis, defense manager for South Dakota’s ACLU, told BuzzFeed News, saying these arguments they are based on inaccurate stereotypes about biology, athletics and gender.
Jonelis argued that legislation that prevents trans girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity actually harms all women, “particularly girls of color whose bodies are often subjected to heavier scrutiny.”
“There is nothing in this bill that is a celebration,” they said.
Sasha Buchert, senior lawyer and co-director of Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Project, said in a statement that Mississippi law and the bill on the governor’s desk in South Dakota will only “exacerbate the bullying and discrimination” that young people trans already face “simply because of who they are.”
“Proponents of this legislation cannot point to a single case in their states to justify the category discrimination they seek to enshrine,” said Buchert. The Associated Press last week asked two dozen lawmakers if there were problems with trans girls competing in high school sports in their states, almost none could provide an example.
In August, a federal judge blocked a similar ban in Idaho after determining that the state failed to provide evidence that allowing trans athletes to compete in sports that align with their gender identity “would undermine gender equality” in sports.
“The State has not identified a legitimate interest served by the Law that the pre-existing rules in Idaho no longer address, except an invalid interest in totally excluding transgender women and girls from women’s sports, regardless of their physiological characteristics,” Judge David Nye wrote in an order granting the ACLU motion for an injunction.
In a statement on Thursday, the Mississippi ACLU accused state lawmakers of using students and children as “political pawns” to discriminate against trans people, saying the bill was not really about protecting justice in women’s sports.
“It is about erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life,” said the ACLU affiliate. “Not once have advocates of this project cited a real dispute over this issue in Mississippi.”
On Wednesday, a group of more than 500 college athletes sent a letter to the NCAA, demanding that the association stop holding championships and events in states that have adopted or are considering bills that would prohibit trans athletes from participating in sports teams aligned with your gender identity.
The athletes said that even with the court’s injunction, the Idaho law “sets a dangerous precedent for subjecting all female athletes to potentially invasive gender verification tests, while effectively banning transgender women from competition.” Mississippi law states that if a student’s gender is challenged, he can provide a medical statement to prove his sex, which should be based solely on his reproductive anatomy, “endogenously produced” testosterone levels and an analysis of his composition genetics.
“It is imperative that we know that we are safe and supported in the NCAA, no matter where we travel to compete,” says the letter. “The NCAA claims to prioritize the safety, excellence and physical and emotional well-being of its student athletes and claims that all athletes deserve a fair chance. However, it is impossible for women athletes to feel safe and supported in environments where their personal identity and integrity are questioned. “
In a statement provided to the Associated Press, the NCAA, which has policies that allow trans athletes to participate in sports since 2011, said it is monitoring the legislation.
“The NCAA believes in the fair and respectful participation of student-athletes at all levels of the sport,” says the statement. “The NCAA believes that diversity and inclusion improves the learning environment and encourages its member colleges and universities to support the well-being of all student-athletes.”