[ad_1]
Topline
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law Thursday a bill barring transgender girls and women from playing on female school sports teams amid a push by Republicans across the country to keep trans people from playing sports in accordance with their gender identify.
Arkansas is the latest state to pass a law preventing trans athletes from playing on the sports team … [+]
Key Facts
The law will keep trans girls and women from joining a school, intramural or club team from the kindergarten level through university athletics.
Arkansas has no known example of an openly trans girl or woman participating in school sports, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Big Number
20. That’s the number of state legislatures where Republicans have filed bills to keep transgender athletes from competing on the team that line up with their identity, according to the Associated Press.
Key Background
The Arkansas law comes two weeks after Mississippi outlawed trans girls and women at public schools and universities from competing on female sports teams. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also said she was “excited” to sign a similar bill for her state earlier this month, but opted not to sign it last week, instead sending it back to be reworked to exclude collegiate athletics and to fix language she said was too vague. On Thursday, West Virginia’s house passed a bill that would ban trans middle and high school athletes from competing on the team that matches their gender identity. The bill will head to the state senate next. The Tennessee house passed a similar bill this week that was already passed by the state senate last month. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill into law.
Further Reading
Mississippi Gov. Signs Transgender Sports Ban Into Law—South Dakota, Tennessee May Soon Follow (Forbes)
[ad_2]