OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Republican governors of Oklahoma and Arizona signed a law Wednesday banning transgender women and girls from competing on women’s sports teams by joining more than a dozen states with similar laws .
More than two dozen young female athletes, including her 14-year-old daughter Piper, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, signed the event, titled “Save Women’s Sports Act. “
“This bill, the Save Women’s Sports Act, is simply common sense for us in Oklahoma,” said Stitt, a first -term Republican running for office. “When it comes to sports and athletics, women have to compete with women. Men have to compete with men. And let us be very clear: this is all that this bill says ».
Two years ago, no state passed a law regulating youth gender sports. But the issue has come to the fore in Republican -led state houses and has been central since lawmakers in Idaho passed the nation’s first sports participation law in 2020. This law is now blocked in court, along with another. in West Virginia.
The Oklahoma Bill, which went into effect immediately with the governor’s signature, applies to women’s sports teams in both high school and college.
The new law was soon approved by civil rights groups because it was too targeted at a group of marginalized people.
“Transgender people are everywhere, but with a stroke of pen and public testimony, Governor Stitt sent a clear message to vulnerable transgender youth in Oklahoma that they are not accepted and accepted in our state,” he said. Tamia Cox. Tour, managing director. From the Oklahoma branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. Ultimately, SB2 violates the U.S. Constitution and federal civil rights law, putting Oklahoma at risk of losing federal funding and harming transgender youth, all to solve a problem that does not exist.
The Oklahoma High School Sports Governing Body, the Oklahoma High School Activity Association, has pursued a policy of engaging transgender athletes in the sport since 2015, but OSSAA spokesman Van Shi Evan said no school has called for in the implementation of men’s politics. Pass the student to the woman.
There are also some transgender athletes in schools in Arizona. Since 2017, according to the Arizona Inter-School Association, approximately 16 modes of transportation have been denied by 170,000 high school athletes in the state for playing on teams that match their gender identity.
Outside the room where Stitt signed the bill, 26-year-old Cara Kleber, a transgender woman, holds a sign in her hand that says, “How Do Guys Who Need Support Feel Being Bullied ?
“They don’t stop trans kids from playing sports, having fun or living,” Kleber said. “What they’re going to do with this bill is say that they’re not invited to the spaces and among other things, that they’re not the same, that they don’t love, that they don’t care”.
In Oklahoma, some event supporters said they were confident they would vote for him after the University of Pennsylvania. Swimmer Lia Thomas The trans woman won the NCAA Women’s National Division I Championship earlier this month.
Some opponents have expressed concern about the NCAA’s withdrawal of sports tournaments from Oklahoma, including the Women’s College World Series, which is held annually in Oklahoma City, but Stitt said she’s not worried.
“We’re not worried about that because we know we’re with Oklahoma and most Americans are with us,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, Duchamp signed a bill banning abortion after 15 weeks if allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona’s abortion law reflects the Mississippi Act, which is currently being reviewed by the county’s Supreme Court. The bill explicitly states that it would not violate state law banning abortion for more than 100 years if the Supreme Court dismissed Rowe Wade, a 1973 case that supported the right to abortion under the law.
Associated Press writers Bob Christie and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
