Alabama expands law limiting transgender athletes in sports to include colleges : NPR

“It’s a matter of fairness, pure and simple,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said of the new law.

Julie Bennett/AP

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Julie Bennett/AP

“It’s a matter of fairness, pure and simple,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said of the new law.

Julie Bennett/AP

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on Tuesday signed a bill that would make it illegal for public institutions of higher education to allow transgender people to participate in sports that do not match their assigned gender. at birth.

Two- and four-year-old public schools “would prohibit biological males from participating in a sports team or female-only sport and would prohibit biological females from participating in a sports team or male-only sport,” the House Bill states. 261.

The bill is an addition to legislation Ivey signed in 2021 that requires K-12 level athletes to participate in sports that match the sex they were assigned at birth.

“If you’re a biological male, you’re not going to participate in women’s and women’s sports in Alabama. It’s a matter of fairness, plain and simple,” she tweeted.

Under the law, schools that uphold the ban would be immune from any official investigation or complaint, and those that report a violation of the law could not be subject to retaliation by government entities. , sports or academics, he says.

Students “deprived of sporting opportunities or [suffer] any direct or indirect harm resulting from a breach” also have the right to sue, the bill says.

The legislation emphasizes the biological and physical differences between men and women.

“Physical differences between biological males and biological females have long made separate, gender-specific sports teams important so that female athletes can have equal opportunities to participate in sports,” the report states.

Last year, Alabama passed a law that would make it a crime for doctors or parents to approve gender-affirming medical care for minors, such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers. The ban was blocked by a lower court late last year.

He also approved a law prohibiting transgender people from using bathrooms assigned to the gender with which they identify.