“Girls have a right to excel in their sport and compete for records on a national scale, to compete for scholarships for universities and not have those taken,” said the bill’s author.
QUICK FACTS:
- On Thursday, Arizona and Oklahoma passed bills banning transgender youth from participating in girls’ sports, Reuters reports.
- Arizona lawmakers passed the Republican-sponsored “Save Women’s Sports Act” as well as legislation that would prohibit physicians from providing gender-transforming surgery to minors.
- Both bills are now headed to the desk of Republican Governor Doug Ducey, Reuters notes.
- A bill also titled “Save Women’s Sports Act” passed in the Oklahoma Legislature on Thursday.
- “Girls have a right to excel in their sport and compete for records on a national scale, to compete for scholarships for universities and not have those taken,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin.
- Supporters of the bans say they are needed to ensure that transgender athletes do not have an unfair advantage in sports.
WHAT CRITICS SAID:
- Opponents of the bans, including the Women’s Sports Foundation, say these bans are discriminatory.
- “Why would we be legislating bullying against children who want to… participate in sports?,” Democratic Representative Kelli Butler asked in a speech opposing the bill before Arizona lawmakers on Thursday. “That’s not the country that I know and that I am proud to be a part of.”
BACKGROUND:
- Governors in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Iowa have already signed into law bills that ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports.
- Arizona passed a third bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, with physicians facing fines of up to $10,000 and suspension or revocation of their license if found not in compliance, according to Reuters.
