North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has signed two bills into law that effectively ban transgender girls and women from joining female sports teams in K-12 and college. The bills were passed by veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate earlier this year, making it clear that the Legislature has “resoundingly determined” that restrictions beyond the current rules for girls’ sports should be codified in state law.
This move comes despite there not being a single recorded incident of a transgender girl playing or entering the process to even ask to play on a North Dakota girls’ team. Burgum acknowledged that over the past two years, with more than 27,000 students participating in North Dakota high school sports, 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.
At least 19 other states have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes, and Republican lawmakers across the U.S. have drafted hundreds of laws this year to push back on LGBTQ+ freedoms, especially targeting transgender people’s everyday lives — including sports, health care, bathrooms, workplaces and schools.
The bills replicate and expand a nearly identical bill vetoed by Burgum in 2021, including at the college level. Republican Senator Janne Myrdal, of Edinburg, supported the bills and argued that trans participation in sports could take away scholarship opportunities from female athletes who are cisgender. Democratic Senator Ryan Braunberger, of Fargo, spoke against the bills on the Senate floor last week, saying that this is a scary time for his friends and family who are transgender.
This move poses a significant threat to LGBTQ+ rights and equality in sports, as transgender girls and women will no longer be able to participate in sports teams that align with their gender identity. It remains to be seen how this new legislation will be enforced and challenged in the future, and whether the Biden administration’s proposed rule to forbid outright bans on transgender athletes will have any effect.